Amateur Ollie Schniederjans makes major charge up British Open leaderboard

Much the overnight publicity, and rightly so, focused on amateur Paul Dunne’s run to the top of the British Open leaderboard. But by the end of Monday, he may not be the low amateur on the leaderboard and win that silver medal.

That’s because Ollie Schniederjans, the big-hitting 22 year old from Georgia Tech, has caught fire at St. Andrews and may have a shot at a new major championship scoring record on his inward nine. Schniederjans went out in 31 with a bogey on the card -- an indication that St. Andrews is gettable again for the second straight day. With the wind relatively calm and the course so soft from all the rain, these big hitters are stuffing wedges close to almost every hole. ESPN’s Andy North said that literally every hole on the front nine is a wedge hole and Schniederjans hits it off the tee just about as far as anyone in the field.

Schniederjans joined Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson as the only amateurs of the last 50 years to make the cut at both the U.S. Open and British Open this week. But now he’s making a serious run at the top of the leaderboard and at 10-under, he’s just two shots back of the 54-hole lead. Schniederjans did a little bit of everything on his opening nine, bombing away off the tee, stuffing it close with a long iron on the par-3 eighth, and pouring in putts at every turn to post six birdies on the card. The front started with two straight red numbers on his opening holes, and finished with a bomb at the ninth.

With the way he crushes it off the tee, Schniederjans is always fun to watch and obviously has some big years ahead of him as a pro. He led the field in driving distance at last month’s U.S. Open. Right after the British Open, he will turn pro and play in this week’s Canadian Open on a sponsor’s exemption. Sean Foley, Tiger’s old coach, will be his instructor.

In the instant, he’s got an outside chance at tying or setting a new major championship scoring record. That’s 63, which has been set 26 times over the years at the different majors. With a front nine 31, Ollie will need to match that mark on the more difficult back nine to set a new record. The conditions are supposed to become more difficult as the day wears on, but his finishing number, even with a record round, probably would not be enough. But at least he’s getting into the mix here.

We’re going to see more low numbers throughout the day but here’s the early leaderboard at St. Andrews:

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