Andrew Johnston happy to keep making new friends

16 July 2016 06:53

Cult figure Andrew 'Beef' Johnston is winning more and more fans both home and abroad every day with his performances at The Open but he has not given up securing an even greater victory at Royal Troon.

The 27-year-old Englishman will be in the penultimate group tomorrow after a third-round 70 lifted him to five under.

It may be seven shots off the lead held by Sweden's Henrik Stenson but the happy-go-lucky Londoner is undeterred as he is enjoying the best week of his professional life.

Johnston's down-to-earth, nice-guy attitude, has captured the imagination of a wider audience over the last three days and while his demeanour on the course is different to many pros - he happily 'high-fived' his way down the 18th fairway - there remains a serious side to his game.

"If you come into tournaments you have to believe you can go and do something so what's the point in playing if you don't trust yourself?" he said.

"Once I'm playing a shot, it's down to business, you know, and then the switch comes back on and then I concentrate.

"I don't know if you've seen today a few people were shouting out as I was maybe walking up to the green to look at my putt but once I've hit the shot or I'm walking somewhere I'm going to acknowledge it because I don't need to concentrate.

"It has been amazing. I love it. Thousands of people come and if they are really enjoying themselves that is what it is about."

So far he has done a good job of staying true to himself and getting the job done but even he admits he was almost distracted after holing a chip for birdie at the 13th.

"I walked over and I could see my mom (Jackie) crying and that got me going a bit," he added.

"I was like 'Oh my God. Don't look at my mum. Please, go over there'."

Johnston is the leading Englishman in fourth place on the leaderboard but he still finds himself having to answer questions no one would even consider asking more established 'serious' professionals.

He won the Spanish Open this year, finished seventh at the BMW Championship at Wentworth and played in last month's US Open but that did not stop some over-personal enquiries.

For instance, his weight - "I don't know, about 16 stone. I need to shed a stone; his beard - "My girlfriend (Louise) is not happy. I desperately need a haircut and a beard shape-up after this week; what he ate the previous day - "A 10-inch pizza. It wasn't like a 20-inch, 'Win a T-shirt' if you finish it type of thing".

He takes it all in his stride and is enjoying his man of the people role, even if it does take a bizarre turn occasionally.

"Because I said in the interview with Sky Sports yesterday I was going to eat Caesar salad I had this one geezer screaming 'Caesar salad' at me for the first six holes. It was funny," said Johnston, who on Saturday had fans waving burgers at him.

"I'll chat to anyone. It doesn't bother me. I like meeting new people and I don't care who they are or where they are from. I am going to make friends."

Source: PA