Amateur Championship: England’s Clemons reaches final at Ballyliffin

England’s Dominic Clemons will face Denmark’s Jacob Skov Olesen in Saturday’s 36-hole Amateur Championship final at Ballyliffin in county Donegal.

Clemons, 21, needed 20 holes to defeat Germany’s Laurenz Schiergen in the morning’s quarter-finals before edging out compatriot Jack Bigham by one hole in the last four.

Olesen beat Scotland’s Calum Scott by one hole in the quarter-finals and then overcame the USA’s Luke Sample 3&1 in his afternoon semi-final.

Clemons, who won the Scottish Open Amateur Stroke Play Championship at Muirfield by a remarkable 17 shots earlier this month, said his semi-final had been a “bit of a struggle” amid wet conditions.

“I hit a few poor shots this afternoon but kind of got lucky in some spots and on to tomorrow,” said Clemons, who hails from the Gog Magog club in Cambridgeshire.

“It’s weird because I’ve obviously known Jack for a long time but haven’t played with him for a while.

“It was good to see him play and I know he’s done some good things (this season), but fortunately it was my day today.”

Earlier, Clemons was on the brink of defeat against Schiergen but the German missed eight and three-foot putts on the 17th and 18th which would have clinched victory and was then punished at the second extra hole by the Englishman.

The winner of Saturday’s final will secure a place in next month’s Open Championship at Royal Troon, the 2025 US Open and, by tradition, an invitation to the play in the Masters.

In Thursday’s other quarter-finals, Harpenden’s Walker Cup player Bigham beat Spain’s Marcel Fonseca by one hole with American Sample edging out Royal Liverpool’s Matthew Dodd-Berry by the same margin.

Ballyliffin hosted the DP World Tour’s Irish Open in 2018 and this is the first time the Amateur Championship has been played at the north Donegal course.