Seconds after he’d holed-out for eagle, bagged the last Open Championship spot and become the first-ever Estonian to qualify for golf’s oldest major, Richard Teder covered his mouth.
Most assuredly, he wasn’t alone.
You want fireworks? You may not see something better in three days than what went down. You want drama? This was Shakespearean. Please consider:
— The hole-out. It came on the third playoff hole at West Lancashire Golf Club in England, one of four hosts on Tuesday for final qualifying for the Open, set to be played in two weeks at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland. On the hole, three players — Teder, Ronan Mullarney and Sam Bairstow — were playing for one spot, and Teder popped his tee ball 340 yards down the left side of the fairway, leaving him with about an 85-yard second shot. From there, magic. His ball hit the front of the green. It took about five bounces forward. It rolled about 5 feet. In the background, a man shouted, “Get in the hole!” It did, finding the cup’s left side.
But you should watch it, and you can do so here:
And here:
Cheers followed, as did a pick-up of Teder from his caddie, who then spun him around. As Teder approached the hole to retrieve his ball, the mouth-cover came.
“It means everything [to qualify],” Teder told the Open’s website. “It means the world to me. I just can’t wait to get back home and celebrate and just get ready for the Open.
“I don’t think it has kicked in yet. I’m playing in the Open with all the best players in the world, and I like to think I belong there, so it’ll be fun.”
— All of that came after an 18th-hole wreck. During Tuesday’s first round, Teder fired a two-under 70. In the second round, Teder was five-under through 17 holes. But he’d finish at three-under. A double bogey after tee-shot issues dropped him into the playoff.
— All of that came after a bit of a journey. Teder is just 20. (He’ll turn 21 in late November.) He’s an amateur. (He’s ranked 91st in the World Amateur Golf Ranking.) He’s from Estonia, a country in northeast Europe that shares its eastern border with Russia. The country’s population of 1.1 million people has 10 courses to choose from, according to the Estonia Golf Association.
And now, for the first time, they have a player to support in the Open.
They may be covering their mouths for a while.
