Amateur star Tom Lewis has set his sights on next in the footsteps of Rory McIlroy. He looks set to match one of the US Open champion's achievements in the 140th Open finals this weekend. Lewis, a 900/1 outsider at Royal St George's, went into today's second round in a share of the lead with Denmark's Thomas Bjorn after a luminous opening five-under-par 65, five under par.
The 20-year-old could not help thoughts about the Claret Jug obtainable to the winner, but his first target remains the silver medal for most important amateur - he was six shots ahead of adjacent rival Peter Uihlein - an honour claimed by McIlroy at Carnoustie in 2007.
McIlroy then went on to play in the Walker Cup team that year before turning expert and securing his European Tour card by finishing third in just his second event as a specialized. And Lewis admits that sounds like a good career series for a determined youngster from the same Welwyn Garden city club which launch the career of six-time major winner Sir Nick Faldo.
It would be really nice to play Walker Cup in September, and hopefully I can perform well up until then to give me self-assurance for turning pro, Lewis said.Hopefully I can get a few invites and try and get my card. I'll just keep my head down and practice what I know, and hopefully it'll work.Rory is an outstanding player. He's definitely one of the best players out there at this moment. He's world number three and he'll absolutely get to world number one at some stage in his career.