Ashton Turner: From wearing a crash helmet at school to The Open

But another 20-footer saw him pick up another shot before a sand save at 13, after short-siding himself, kept things going after a bogey at 12.

“At 14 I holed another 20-footer, I hit the pin at 15 so that was about two feet away so that got me to 3 under.”

And a reachable par 4 and 5 to come in the next two holes…

“At 16 the pin was on the top right tier so I was just trying to hit 3-wood into the trap short but with the adrenaline I landed it on and it bounced through the back. It was in some pretty deep bund and not lying great, to be honest I just wanted to bundle it six feet past.

“I hit a duff on purpose, it snagged up on the fringe but then began to trickle down. From eight feet out it didn’t look like going anywhere else.”

Cue sweaty palms, racing thoughts and just two holes to overcome to tee it up in your first major.

Hollinwell 18th

If you haven’t played Hollinwell, to help set the scene, the 17th is a 501-yard gently dog-legged par 5 while the last, pictured above, is 460 yards off the tips.

“It was all pretty mental from there, 17 was playing pretty simple but my heart was going 10 to the dozen. The plan was to not flirt with the fairway bunkers so I hit a 6-iron off the tee, it would normally go 200 yards but with all the adrenaline and baked fairways it went about 270. I hit an 8 to the edge and got up and down for another birdie.

“By this point I was trying to do every type of breathing technique possible but they didn’t seem to be making much difference!

“Normally I would hit driver or 3-wood at 18 but I just told my caddie to give me a club that wouldn’t put me in any trouble. My caddie, Lyle Phillips, was really good, I don’t know what was going on inside but on the outside he was as cool as a cucumber. So we worked out we could hit two 7-irons and still get there and, as it turned out, I hit an 8 onto the front edge for a par.”

Ashton Turner

Come the end of the day Turner had made it by five shots, returning to Carnoustie where he played in the 2015 Amateur, with Oliver Wilson and Rhys Enoch of Wales picking up the other spots from the 60 hopefuls.

In the process he won just over £2,000 which will be particularly welcome given that money is tight and sponsorship opportunities fairly limited at this point in his career.

For his coach Spence it will be a first on many levels.

“I’ve never been to an Open. I got married on Open weekend and we had a child that week so I’ll be missing my 10th wedding anniversary and daughter’s birthday so I’m not in the best books!”

As for Turner he’ll be doing his usual thing; walk a few holes on Sunday, 18 holes on Monday and two lots of nine on Tuesday and Wednesday. But in slightly more exalted company than he is used to.

“The biggest thing is to not get distracted by what clubs others are hitting. Otherwise I will try to keep things as normal as possible but maybe try and sign up for a practice round with Tyrrell Hatton as we share the same management company, or Rory.”