Enthusiastic applause as Matthew Jordan’s third shot to 18 comes to rest about 10 feet from the hole.
A sympathetic groan as his birdie putt slips just an inch by.
Rapturous cheers as he taps in for his par 5 and acknowledges them courteously.
Three birdies, two bogeys, one double bogey and 12 pars meant a one over par second round, leaving Matthew on -1 for the Championship, and tied for 13th place as he walked off the course.
Yesterday Matt described the dangers posed by ‘Little Eye’, Hoylake’s new par 3 17th, and it was here that he made 5 - on the hole aced by Australian Travis Smyth earlier in the day.
Disappointing, but at least it’s clear Matt had prepared himself for the possibility that a small green surrounded by 360 degree trouble might take its toll.
He will play tomorrow in the knowledge that he has acquitted himself oh so well, comfortably made the cut, and that the weekend elements in the form of rain and a breeze are likely to level up the field.
Tiger Woods and Steve Williams
All this is a far cry from Matthew’s first Hoylake Open of 2006, when the course was baked brown, and in some places white, by a prolonged heatwave.
As a ten year-old, he was obsessed when Tiger Woods gave a ball-striking masterclass to be named Champion Golfer of the Year and lift the Claret Jug.
"I got Adam Scott's ball on a practice round," said Matt, "and I got Phil Mickelson's autograph and Sergio Garcia's too.
"I didn't get Tiger's – I just froze when he walked past and I didn't have the courage to ask!"
Legend has it that, back in 1897, Royal Liverpool’s Harold Hilton won The Open at Hoylake and eventually walked home with the Claret Jug under his arm.
Maybe Matthew Jordan can do the same.
It’s golf.
You never know…
Matthew Jordan back in the day
