Matt Cooper talks lawnmowers, poetry, the amateur vs professional debate, watering the course, and Harry Kane. It’s day two of the Open diary.<\/p>\n
The British Lawnmower Museum<\/p>\n
Not the intro you might have been expecting. But the shuttle bus away from the course last night was abuzz with excited chatter about one of Southport\u2019s great tourist attractions.<\/p>\n
Yes, the boating lake may interest some. The beach others. The night time attractions of Lord Street, will draw a certain crowd. But those in the know head to the town\u2019s hidden gem \u2013 the British Lawnmower Museum.<\/p>\n
It boasts an eclectic and somewhat chaotic collection of memorabilia, with the odd nod towards the Open championship course on its doorstep.<\/p>\n
The highlight, however, is the labelling of the machines. My second favourite is propped on a 1960 mower and is placed beneath a photo of an elderly man peering through a noose. \u201cThis machine belonged to Britain\u2019s famous hangman Albert Pierrepoint 1905-1992,\u201d it reads. \u201cHe hung 400 people. His fee was \u00a315 per execution which coincidentally was the price of this mower.\u201d<\/p>\n
And my favourite? \u201cCharles Darwin was the proud owner of a Samuelson\u2019s donkey drawn lawnmower in 1857, & also famous for this theory of evolution & writing \u2018The Origin of Species\u2019 in 1859.\u201d<\/p>\n
If the linksland is good for the golfing soul, those captions are good for any soul.<\/p>\n
Unlikely poetry<\/p>\n
I was at the Callaway party last night where the star guest was Jon Rahm who revealed a fondness for Harry Kane. He was especially impressed that Kane had played such fine football for so many years without winning a trophy, yet always maintained his high standards.<\/p>\n
One of the drinks on offer was a new kummel called Birdie. Famously popular at Royal Dornoch, I only know kummel from my favourite John Betjeman poem which goes:<\/p>\n
I walked into the night-club in the morning;<\/p>\n
There was kummel on the handle of the door.<\/p>\n
The ashtrays were unemptied.<\/p>\n
The cleaning unattempted,<\/p>\n
And a squashed tomato sandwich on the floor.<\/p>\n
That led to a discussion of how Betjeman also wrote a famous poem about links golf:<\/p>\n
How straight it flew, how long it flew,<\/p>\n
It clear\u2019d the rutty track<\/p>\n
And soaring, disappeared from view<\/p>\n
Beyond the bunker\u2019s back –<\/p>\n
A glorious, sailing, bounding drive<\/p>\n
That made me glad I was alive.<\/p>\n
There will be plenty of bounding drives this week as the course continues to dry out. The dunes resemble dust hills never mind sand hills. It feels like Opens of old.<\/p>\n
But how will it play? Jon Rahm was excellent on the coming challenge, focussing on the fact that the tournament committee will be able to control the greens more so than the fairways. <\/p>\n
\u201cSt Andrews (in 2022) was firm and their fairways were running very fast, but the greens, they managed to keep them decently soft. This week the greens are way smaller than at St Andrews. Distance control is going to be key. Knowing how the ball is going to react and where you need to land it to give yourself a putt is going to be very, very important.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis golf course is known as not being the easiest already. Weather conditions usually are pretty harsh, windy. It’s always windy, right? So a lot of those holes are going to present a very strong challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n
I was on Open radio with Matt Adams late in the day and he revealed that the R&A have watered the course (\u201cin sips\u201d) more often that they planned to. They also hope that workers of the ball will thrive, golfers who can shape shots into prime positions from which to attack.<\/p>\n
The professional amateur debate<\/p>\n
Depending on you point of view the appearance of Stuart Grehan in this week\u2019s field is either a wonderful example of a fellow finding his life sweet spot or a craven example of using the system. <\/p>\n
I make no apologies for sitting firmly in the former camp. I watched Grehan win last month\u2019s Amateur Championship at Royal Liverpool and thoroughly enjoyed the day, especially when I talked to him and his family afterwards, but almost as much at the start of the day. <\/p>\n
Because it was while ordering a coffee in the small tented village by the dog leg of the first fairway that I became aware of a growing number of spectators wearing red shirts, jumpers and windcheaters emerging from the car park behind the clubhouse.<\/p>\n
They joined me at the cafe, desperately in need of caffeine having had a 3am alarm call. It turns out they were all from County Louth GC, Grehan\u2019s home course, and as soon as he won his semi-final the call had gone up: book flights and the ladies captain would sort out buses to and from Dublin and Liverpool airports. <\/p>\n
It was Offaly v Cork at Royal Birkdale today. Padraig Harrington, an honorary Rebel, and David Howard versus Offaly\u2019s finest, Stuart Grehan and Shane Lowry. Read @IndoSport<\/a> for the result. pic.twitter.com\/uo8f4fJs2J<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Brian Keogh (@IrishGolfDesk) July 13, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n The excitement and pride of those golfers was evident all day and late in the second round they began to relax as Grehan moved clear. Then he \u2013 and they \u2013 became stressed as he neared the finishing line. <\/p>\n Having stumbled over it they all went wonderfully mad and afterwards we discussed his decision to quit the pro game two years ago after an eight-year slog on the minor tours. The turning point was a HotelPlanner Tour event in Czechia. After the third round he realised the paid ranks weren\u2019t for him. He filled in the forms to renounce his professional status that night and then played the final round of his pro career. <\/p>\n \u201cDid I think I was good enough?\u201d he said. \u201cAbsolutely. But on a deeper level I was not in love with the lifestyle.\u201d<\/p>\n He\u2019s now a financial advisor who squeezes practice and competing as an amateur around visits to the office and lots of time on the phone with the laptop in front of him. A very modern life, in fact, and he\u2019s found serenity. <\/p>\n It\u2019s not enough for some folk, however. They bridled on social media that he should not be permitted to return to competitive amateur action, that \u201camateurism used to mean something\u201d and that \u201cit\u2019s dodgy\u201d. They argue his time in Redditch and Telford, playing on the fourth tier, wondering about the meaning of life, gives him an unfair advantage over \u201ctrue\u201d amateurs. <\/p>\n We\u2019re all entitled to our opinions, of course, but I\u2019m really not sure that Grehan is gaming the system.<\/p>\n Top Amateur<\/p>\n Talking of amateurs, it has become tradition for the diary to delve into the Top Amateur market off the back of my attendance at most of the leading amateur events in the summer. So here\u2019s a look at the runners and riders. <\/p>\n The 27-year-old Irishman David Howard qualified at Dundonald Links and is defying cystic fibrosis which is sensational, but he\u2019s done little on the links in championships and the same can be said of Jack Buchanan, this year\u2019s Africa Amateur champion (but he did attend Birkdale as a fan in 2017 so might be inspired).<\/p>\n Fifa Laopakdee (Asia Pacific Amateur champion) and Mateo Pulcini (Latin America Amateur champion) are in new golfing territory. This year\u2019s European Amateur champion, Tim Wiedemeyer, has done little on the links and Dutchman Nevill Ruiter qualified at Dundonald Links but is also raw by the seaside and plays a parkland course at home. Spain\u2019s Alejandro de Castro Piera qualified at Burnham & Berrow but has twice failed to make the match play at the Amateur Championship. <\/p>\n Lev Grinberg \u2013 hailing from Ukraine and now representing France \u2013 has form. He qualified through the Open Amateur Series thanks to victory in the St Andrews Links Trophy and a top 10 in the European Amateur Championship. The American Mason Howell has class \u2013 the 19-year-old won last year\u2019s US Amateur Championship. And Grehan has the finest links pedigree. <\/p>\n I\u2019d have that trio as the top three in the betting so Wiedemayer\u2019s favouritism is something of a surprise. Grinberg is a threat but Grehan has been talking to Padraig Harrington ahead of this week who told him to remember that he knows links golf better than most in the field.<\/p>\n With conditions unlike anything his fellow amateurs will have encountered I\u2019m happy to side with him at 5\/1.<\/p>\n More Open contentSafer gambling<\/p>\n We are committed in our support of safer gambling. Recommended bets are advised to over-18s and we strongly encourage readers to wager only what they can afford to lose.<\/p>\n If you are concerned about your gambling, please call the National Gambling Helpline \/ GamCare<\/a> on 0808 8020 133.<\/p>\n Further support and information can be found at begambleaware.org<\/a> and gamblingtherapy.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n