Over the famed links of Royal Birkdale which has hosted The Open on ten occasions, 16-year-old Lindsay finished top of the 64 players and ties who progressed to the match play stage, after one round of stroke play qualifying with yesterday’s round abandoned due to inclement weather.

Recording a four-under-par 67, Lindsay was delighted with his round which was highlighted by an eagle on the par-5 15th hole and included birdies at the 1st, 6th, 9th, and 17th holes. A closing bogey on 18, just his second of the day, did little to dampen the Scottish Boys’ Amateur champion’s spirits as he looks forward to the match play stage of the Championship.

“I am very pleased, I played some really good stuff out there, I just didn’t really make any mistakes until the last. I am really pleased with that round,” Lindsay said. “I didn’t really expect anything coming into today, I thought I had been playing some nice stuff so I just wanted to see how low I could go.”

England’s Mason Essam relished his opportunity to play the links which has been graced by some of the game’s best. The 21-year-old recorded a three-under-par 68 which featured an eagle at the par-5 17th which was reminiscent of two-time Champion Golfer of the Year, Padraig Harrington’s memorable approach shot into the 71st hole of The 137th Open.

“I didn’t really expect anything coming into today, I thought I had been playing some nice stuff so I just wanted to see how low I could go.” - Ruben Lindsay.

Fellow Englishman, Sam Broadhurst, recovered from a triple bogey on the par-4 3rd hole with a birdie at the 4th hole followed by an eagle at the par-5 6th hole. Dropped shots at the 9th and 10th holes did little to stop the 23-year-old who steadied with a birdie at the 11th before adding a further three to his card in the final four holes of the round. He claimed joint third place on the leaderboard on two-under-par 68 alongside Benjamin Schmidt.

The top-ranked player in the field, Schmidt opened his round with a birdie at the first before making the turn at two-under-par. The 18-year-old overcame bogeys at the 11th and 14th holes with birdies at holes 15 and 17 to safely progress to the match play stage of the championship.

England’s Jack Dyer rounds out the top-5 qualifiers after recording a one-under-par 70 whilst his compatriot Barclay Brown finished at level-par alongside Frederik Kjettrup of Denmark and Filippo Celli of Italy.

The cut mark fell at five-over-par, with 68 players qualifying. By virtue of a card countback Nicola Gerhardsen of Switzerland and Rowan Lester of Ireland progressed to round two of the match play.

It is only the fourth time The Amateur Championship has been hosted at Royal Birkdale following the previous stagings in 1946, 1989 and 2005.

With the match play stage starting from tomorrow through to Sunday’s 36-hole final, there is much at stake as the winner gains an exemption into The 149th Open at Royal St George’s next July and, by tradition, an invitation to play in The Masters and an exemption to the US Open.