Rory McIlroy took home the Claret Jug from this year’s Open Championship, but he wasn’t the only winner strolling the fairways at Royal Liverpool Golf Club this past weekend. This summer we here at Golf GameBook teamed up with MasterCard to give a priceless surprise to two lucky golfers from the UK.
Keep score and be a scorer at The Open winner Tom Whitelaw (left) working as an official scorer at Royal Liverpool Golf Club.
The winners drawn were Sam Bates from Leicester and Tom Whitelaw from London who both got to experience The Open in a whole new way – as an official scorer for one of the marquee groups on the opening day of the championship. ”This is the only way I’m going to watch golf from now on. I’m always going to want to be inside the ropes”, said Tom after the experience.
Sam Bates shows how it is done! He was keeping score for MasterCard ambassador Graeme McDowell along with Matt Kuchar and Louis Oosthuizen.
Sam, who walked the course with MasterCard ambassador Graeme McDowell along with Matt Kuchar and Louis Oosthuizen, said he could almost feel what it would be like to be playing at The Open. ”Walking down the 18th fairway up to the green and seeing all the stands around it – what a great feeling that was!”
Both of the guys seemed exited but not too nervous before starting their task as official scorers. ”In the beginning you have to really concentrate on what you are doing but then once you get more into it and know what you are doing you can enjoy watching the golf as well”, Sam described the experience. ”Once you get used to it, it just starts to feel normal and then every now and again you realize that you are walking down the fairway, past the spectators who are on the other side of the ropes and it is almost like as if you were playing golf”, Tom continued.
As official scorers Sam (in the picture) and Tom really got to go inside the game.
Tom, who got to follow Stephen Gallacher, Hunter Mahan and Victor Dubuisson, had a nice encounter with the American star golfer. ” At the end Hunter came to thank me for following him around. I said ’no problem’ and would like to say an equally big thank you to MasterCard and GameBook for this experience that we never would have had otherwise and one will never forget.”
We in turn would like to thank all GameBook users in the UK for participating. Look out for more unforgettable golf experiences!
– Johanna
@GolfGameBook on Twitter
