Maguire ready to live out Open dream at Royal Liverpool

By his own admission Alex Maguire tries to keep things simple.

Having secured an unlikely place at the Open through the R&A's Open Amateur Series, he immediately set out travel and accommodation plans rather than day-dreaming of what is to come.

The 22-year-old from Laytown arrived at Royal Liverpool on Monday and reality soon set in.

Walking into the locker-room he searched for his spot in between Matsuyama (Hideki) and MacIntyre (Robert), but it was not there.

His first thought was he had been forgotten. Secondly it was that there’d be an amateur section. But alas, he was positioned among his countrymen due to their previous successes.

He explained: "My caddie Jack and I came off the boat and came straight here for a walk around to see what the place was about. We went in the locker-room to get my locker.

"We were walking around for about two or three minutes and the attendee in the locker-room said it's here in the corner.

"I assumed all the amateurs would be together, which would have been nice. But he leads me to the champions corner and saw my name beside Shane Lowry, then myself and Rory.

"To be honest I couldn't stop smiling for 15 minutes after, how cool it was to have my name beside those two lads. They are my two favourite golfers. I've looked up to the them the last few years. It's quite, quite surreal."

Still pinching myself ☘️@TheOpen @GolfIreland_ pic.twitter.com/r1pJFv675e

Phil Mickelson is not far away. Furthermore he admitted a practice round on Monday was a moment to pinch himself.

He played with Brandon Grace and Patrick Reed, while Jordan Spieth and Jason Day were beside him leaving the course.

These are moments to treasure but with it comes a confidence that they’ve been earned.

He came through a three-event