By Torleif Sorenson on 7/8/14

John Singleton is a 30-year-old forklift driver employed by a resin manufacturing company in Birkenhead, England — about a ten-minute drive from Royal Liverpool Golf Club.

I'm just a production person on a shop floor. I start at 8 a.m. and finish at 4:30 p.m. I make batches of thick resin and I made five batches of it last week. It's three-and-a-half tons per batch. It's a resin that goes over wires and it's used for waterproofing. I was just lucky to get the job. I've worked there for over a year."

Like a lot of guys, he is a serious golf enthusiast who once harbored dreams of playing professionally. These days, after clocking off work, he spends time at Eastham Lodge Golf Club for some practice.

Also like most guys, there is a woman in his life — in this case, a pregnant fiancee named Lucy. Amazingly, this lady persuaded him to pay the £140 entry fee and try to qualify for the 2014 Open Championship.   (Why can't the rest of us guys find a woman like that?)

The problem was that Singleton's two wedges were in dreadful shape — so he borrowed a couple from a friend of his. So, there he was, one of 76 professional and amateur golfers vying for just three spots in the Open available in a qualifier at Hillside Golf Club. He was competing with the likes of established European Tour pros Graeme Storm and Richard Finch, as well as last year's U.S. Amateur champion and newly-minted professional, Matt Fitzpatrick.

But it was Singleton, borrowed clubs and all, who shot the lowest score of the 36-hole qualifier, then emerged successfully from a playoff. Instead of being a volunteer marshall, the forklift driver will play in golf's oldest championship at Royal Liverpool — just nine days from now.

Singleton told Daily Mail sportswriter Derek Lawrenson about the reaction from his friends at work:

"We just looked at each other and burst out laughing at the craziness of it all. It's every golfer’s dream to play in The Open and now it's happening to me on my doorstep. It's a bit overwhelming, to be honest.

"I will find out if I can have two weeks off work, so that I can play in The Open. I hope I'm given it."

If Singleton makes the cut, how long will it be before a golf club manufacturing company convinces him to relinquish his amateur status, take an endorsement deal, and capitalize on his good fortune?


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