TYRRELL Hatton will come face to face with players and places etched in golfing folklore on Thursday, when he tees it up at the 150th Open Championship at St Andrews.

At just 18, he will be the youngest player in the field trying to becalm the old course and he still can’t quite believe it.

He said: “As an amateur, qualifying and making it to St Andrews for the Open is like being in a dream world. I can’t put it into words.”

Hatton is no stranger to success. He is one of the brightest young talents in the country and sixth-place finishes at the English Men’s Strokeplay and the Berkshire Men’s Trophy marked him out as one of the summer’s form players.

That earned him the Henriques Trophy and Phillip Strutton Cup, previously won by European greats Nick Faldo and Sandy Lyle, and his Open qualifying campaign bordered on the remarkable too as he made it through two brutal cuts.

He had already survived regional qualifying when he set off down the first fairway of Ladybank, one of four Scottish courses chosen to host final qualifying.

He was in a 72-strong field top-heavy with international professionals competing for just three spots.

But a four-under par 67 set him up in the first round, and he had improved that to six under by the time he reached the turn of his final round.

He said: “I wasn’t too nervous. I knew I was doing ok and it was only in the last six holes that I started to think ‘Oh my God’.

“I doubled 11, but then birdied 13 and 14 and held it together after that. I actually had 15-foot birdie putts on 17 and 18.

“On the 18th I left it an inch short and I walked off the green and said to my caddie, ‘That could have cost me a place in the Open’.

“I had to wait an hour to find out. There were six scores that could have beaten me still to come in and I was sitting on the driving range 80 yards from the 18th green. My caddie was looking at the scoreboard and I was watching him waiting for him to give me the thumbs up.”

He needn’t have worried. He won on a countback from Phillip Archer and his place in the most prestigious tournament in golf was secure.

He said: “It’s quite unreal to be in the same field as Tiger Woods. I will probably be a bit star struck for the first practice days, but on Thursday the business starts.

“I would love to make the cut and then winning the silver medal [best amateur] would be amazing.”

Hatton will leave his Marlow home and fly up to Scotland tomorrow night before spending the next four days learning the intracacies of a course he’s only even seen on television.

Practice will be broken by the draw on Monday, when he will find out who he will play with for the first two days.

He said: “Tom Watson is a legend so it would be pretty special to play with him, and maybe another big name to draw the crowds.

“I was in the last group at the English Strokeplay and there were about 60 people watching.

“I like playing in front of a crowd and enjoyed that, but I know it’s nothing like the Open.”

Hatton will be joined in the field by another son of Bucks.

Luke Donald of Beaconsfield finished fifth at Turnberry last year and will be competing in his tenth Open.

* Hatton is a member of Harleyford GC. He started the season with a world amateur ranking of 2,951 but has shot into the top 300 in the past month.

* He qualified for the Open Championship playing his first ever competitive rounds with new clubs as his old clubs didn’t meet R&A regulations relating to grooves.

For more details on his career or on the Open Championship, go to www.opengolf.com or www.hattongolf.co.uk