A new open heavyweight has appeared at Portrush and it is totally anonymous

Portrush, Northern Ireland-on a loud, exuberant, sometimes punch on Thursday at the open championship, Matthew Jordan arrived in Royal Portrush on 18th, which bathed in an eerie silence.

Jordan placed the huge alley between the U-shaped grandstand look The part of an open contender. His movements were sharp, confident and concentrated, his ball was sitting in the middle of the green, and his name rested right next to a red “3On the yellow ranking, below just one handful of others. Nine for nine In an otherwise empty large championship resume.

This was a very impressive performance that required no shortage of the two most fleeting skills of Golf – longevity and consistency -, and yet there was still no third matter: recognition. Jordan cleaned up his par, waved the incident with the incident and disappeared into the rest of his day the galley. Without a short press conference, he could escape at the Open Championship on Thursday without further recognition.

But as it turned out, it was so much worth hearing from the 29-year-old professional in just his fifth big championship start. Like him, golf learned on the left that play on one of the most worshiped tracks on the open rota. And how he became the strictest man in the most recent open championship history and has achieved a better score since the beginning of the Open 2023 Open in Hoylake than all out of Xander Schauffele and Jon Rahm. And how he managed to do each of these things, even though he has remained the 152nd golfer in the world, a DP World Tour Pro, its only start in the United States in the Puerto Rico Open in alternative field.

Who is Matthew Jordan? And what is even more important, how did he become the most sneaky star of the Open Championship? The answer began at the beginning at Royal Portrush on Thursday.

Perhaps they remember Jordan's big championship debut at the Open Championship 2023. The then 27 -year -old Jordan was the darling of the tournament week in Royal Liverpool, a young professional who grew up as a member of the club and survived a triumphal qualification battle just to get in to the tournament. He fought moments with the serenity of a testy veteran against four days of the hometown galleries and nerves, which ends with a heroic birdie last year to earn an invitation to the open in 2024 under the top 10 exemption of the tournament.

“It was just the perfect finish for the most incredible week,” he said at the time. “I only So I wanted to knock it for everyone who supported me just to make them mentally one last time. They stayed with me – even in the rain. “

Perhaps you forgot Jordan last July when he returned to Troon. He arrived in Scotland during a competitive break, the missed cuts stacked when his rank went into the 200s. In a stormy, mostly miserable weather week in Troon, he achieved the almost impossible performance of four consecutive identical scores of even Par. After four 71, he signed a 72-hole score of 284, escaped with another T10 (between three missed cuts) and another, as well as an unlikely invitation to the open in 2025.

Perhaps we shouldn't have surprised each other when Jordan arrived at Portrush on Thursday and delivered the goods again and shot a six-birde three-bogey-68 on the harder side of the tournamentless. For the third time in a row, he had increased his game on time for his biggest start to the season, and for the third time in a row he had done it by being simplified.

“I think my ability, if I make a mistake, not to tighten,” said Jordan on Thursday. “I think that's one thing that I was impressed by because some of the days I played were hard.

toughness is a word that is overdoing at this time of year, usually as a means of diagnosing the golf style, which is necessary to survive the uncertainty of the left. The proposal has a certain truth that resilience plays a greater role in the left Golf, but that's not the only one.

“The secret of the left golf? I think there are a couple. I mainly think when people probably come by. [the secret] It is able to understand how far half shots, different flights, starting lines, “said Jordan. I met an 8-iron with 17-obhurously, my goal was to hit it for a long time. There is a lot of it. It is not only there and does it. So it is able to adapt and understand exactly how to meet such pictures.”

An unrestricted percentage by Matthew Jordan's current hot strip is lucky. Similar to last July at Troon, the conditions on Thursday in the tournament were very more difficult than any practice round. And similar to last July in Troon, Jordan was prepared for the slaughter due to a visit before the tournament under similar devilish conditions.

“I played as if it were played today. In the end I played a really hard golf course. In the end I played and came and went and went, went, went. Wow, it will be a real test again“, Said Jordan.” Fortunately, I play a little better. “

Nevertheless, Jordan's performance starts in two main actors outside of the last three openings (in Oakmont in June and St. Andrews in '22; two starts, no cuts). Like his performance on the DP World Tour since Troon (four top 10, eight MCs, no victories).

But it is not unknown that a golfer appears with a gift for the left. Paul Lawrie won the 1999 Open in Carnoustie and rarely fought again. Todd Hamilton won the '04 Open in Troon about Ernie Els and missed 27 of his next 31 cuts. The professional life of Ian Baker-Finch after a win at the Open '91 Open in Royal Birkdale is most important for radio. These golfers were all gifted enough to win a big championship, but they were also lucky. You have to have both.

“It's just as I played,” said Jordan on Thursday afternoon. “I just seem to play better [The Open]And I can't tell you exactly why this is so. I think you don't do it through bad golf. “

At the moment, Jordan can only dream of the ignorance, such as the gap between a T10 in Hoylake and a first place at Portrush. (“Apart from the fact that it will win, I can't imagine that it is much better,” said Jordan after this first magical week in Royal Liverpool in 2003.) If his Thursday performance continues in Northern Ireland, the 152nd golfer in the world must fight with at least one IronClad certainty.

For Matthew Jordan, things are now quiet, but they won't be much longer.

You can reach the author at james.colgan@golf.com.

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