In-form Featherstone on Open journey

Five spots for Royal Birkdale will be up for grabs when the Sheringham golfer plays a 36-hole qualifier as part of a 72-strong field at Burnham & Berrow Golf Club in Somerset.

In opposition will be stars such as six-time PGA Tour winner Marc Leishman and Sahith Theegala, who was tied-11th in the US Open earlier this month.

But Featherstone, with his father Neil caddying for him, is excited by the opportunity to pit his skills against such a high-class line-up.

Also, the three-time Norfolk Amateur champion goes into the event with the experience of having played in Final Qualifying a year ago at Burnham & Berrow.

On that occasion he shot rounds of 71 and 73 to finish two-over-par in a share of 25th place.

Featherstone, 20, said: “It’s awesome to be able to go back to the same place. I think the field is arguably stronger this year as well, so I know the challenges we’ll face.

“But I think the most important thing I learned last year is getting off to a good start and making sure that you don’t leave yourself with too much to do.

“Then, sort of cruise through rather than trying to force anything – because that course will bite you if you try and force it.

“I think me and Dad are much more experienced with that now and we can manage ourselves better.”

Norfolk’s premier amateur men’s golfer can certainly arrive at the links layout just south of Weston-super Mare in confident mood after a brilliant 12 months in which he has excelled on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock student, who recently completed the second year of a business management degree, played very impressively on the American collegiate golf circuit.

He posted two runner-up spots among a string of strong finishes in a 2025-2026 campaign that saw him set performance records for the Little Rock Trojans.

His fast-track progress is reflected in his World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) in which he has risen to 331st.

Featherstone said: “America was pretty enjoyable. I never really felt super comfortable but managed the game a lot better than previous years and I worked really well with the coaches over there.

“I think there’s been a lot of development in every aspect of my game. Rankings-wise, I think I was about 1900 on WAGR this time last year and I’m 330 now, so there’s been some good improvements on that.”

Featherstone’s advance came into sharp focus during the British Amateur Championship, which took place at Royal Liverpool and West Lancashire earlier in June.

An elite field of 288 teed it up for the two stroke-play rounds and scores of 69 and 67 left him at eight-under and tied for second place.

With the leading 64 players qualifying for the match-play stages, Featherstone proceeded to enjoy a thrilling run to the quarter-finals.

One match he’ll never forget is a last-32 win over Kris Kim. Featherstone fought back from 3-down with seven to play to beat his highly-rated 18-year-old opponent on the 20th green.

He said: “I hit driver on both the play-off holes and that really changed the dynamic of the holes, I think. Making birdie on both of those was testament to the putter – I holed a 15-foot putt on the 19th and about a 20-foot putt on the 20th.”

His fine week came to an end in the last-eight where he lost out to the eventual tournament winner Stuart Grehan.

Featherstone was disappointed not to showcase his A-game in that match but the tournament created indelible memories for him, not least because his dad was on the bag.

Featherstone said: “It’s fantastic, special – he sacrifices a lot to be able to do it. To bring it back against Kris and to have dad there when we holed the winning putt was really cool.”

An early-morning alarm call beckons for the duo on June 30. Featherstone’s Open qualifying trail will get underway at 6.40a.m and his second round is scheduled for 12.10pm on the same day.

Photo (Rushmer PR):

1 Norfolk golfer Ed Featherstone will have his dad Neil (left) caddying for him at Final Qualifying for The 154th Open Championship