The Open Championship: Hong Kong’s Taichi Kho backs recent links experience in qualifying quest
- Kho is in the field for Final Qualifying at St Annes Old Links, weeks after playing there in The Amateur Championship
- ‘If I just do my own thing, I’ll have a chance,’ Kho says, with 4 places in The Open up for grabs
Taichi Kho knows he faces an uphill battle to qualify for The Open Championship next month, but believes his experiences of playing links golf over the past couple of weeks give him a chance of success.
The Hong Kong amateur golfer will be part of a stacked field for Final Qualifying at St Annes Old Links on Tuesday, when he will battle it out with the likes of former Open champion Sandy Lyle and Sam Bairstow, the only amateur to come through this stage last year.
Kho is no stranger to the St Annes course, having played in The Amateur Championship there earlier this month, but is fully aware that he will need a low score over the 36 holes to get through.
“I played St Annes just over a week ago and if the wind isn’t blowing too hard, I know the score is going to be really low there,” he said. “I think last year 12 under [par] won, so I know I have to play some really good golf.
“I just know if I do, with how I’ve been playing and how I’ve been thinking, if I just do my own thing, I’ll have a chance down the stretch.”
After missing the cut at Royal Lytham & St Annes, Kho was in Spain last week for the European Amateur Championship, in which he fared slightly better, putting himself in a position to win at the halfway stage on four under par, before blowing up in the third round and tumbling back down the leader board after carding an eight-over-par 80 at the Parador de El Saler course in Valencia.
