Matthew Jordan goes from autograph hunter to hitting the first tee shot at The Open

Jordan is a member at Hoylake and after coming through qualifying will hit the very first shot of this year’s Open Championship at the course

Matthew Jordan will strike the opening tee shot at this year’s Open (PA)

Hoylake member Matthew Jordan will hit the opening tee shot at this year’s Open at Royal Liverpool.

Tournament organisers announced on Monday that the 27-year-old local qualifier will get the action underway when the tournament begins on his hometown course on Thursday.

Jordan, who turned professional in 2018, has been a member at the Wirral links since he was seven years old.

He said: “It’s an amazing honour. I’m sure the first tee, no matter what, was going to be special, but to have this honour is brilliant.”

Jordan, who made his Open debut at St Andrews 12 months ago, shot rounds of 65 and 69 in qualifying at West Lancashire to secure a place in this year’s event.

He expects to have a large and vocal following when he arrives at the course on Thursday morning.

He said: “I can’t come up with a number but once I qualified, so many people told me, messaged me, saying they’re going to be here and they’re going to be loud, they’re going to offer me support.”

Jordan came through qualifying at West Lancashire to reach The Open on his home course (PA)

Jordan, a member of the DP World Tour who finished in a tie for ninth at the Volvo Scandinavian Mixed last month, hopes his local knowledge will serve him well this week.

He said: “I just want to play the golf course like I know I can, like I do in practice, like I normally will if I’m here preparing for any other events.

“And if I feel like I can do that, then I know that I can do well around here.”

It is a far cry from 2006, when Jordan was a starstruck 10-year-old watching Tiger Woods’ march to victory.

He said: “I think I was more bothered about getting signatures than anything else and was kind of starstruck.

“I think I saw him in ‘14 as well and just froze. He was my hero and being able to see him in the flesh and watching him do what he did, especially around your home course, was immense.”