'We're all chasing that dream' - Chris Hanson hoping to secure Open Championship return at Hoylake

Nine years ago he was a European Challenge Tour professional on the verge of quitting golf, when he suddenly put three strong rounds together in qualifying to secure a cherished spot at the Open.

“It was a funny time in my career because the week before I was ready to pack it in,” he recalls now of the 2014 Open Championship at Royal Liverpool Golf Club, Hoylake as it is known. “I approached it more as an experience than an event that I was using to progress my career at the time.

“The good thing with it being at Liverpool was that my friends and family got to experience it as well, you weren’t traipsing up to Carnoustie or Portrush.

“We fell really lucky with some accommodation in West Kirby in a converted cottage.

“It was the first taste for the whole family of what life on Tour was like, so to then get on Tour a few years later and live that experience every week, was great. Maybe it did kind of fuel the fire for the years after.”

Little did Hanson know it at the time, but his two rounds among the world’s best at the Open did act as a springboard for his career. Eighteen months later he finally got through Q School and earned his European Tour card.

“It was a good stint out there,” he says. “2016, ‘17, ‘18 and a little bit of ‘19; around 90-odd tournaments in total.”

Now in his mid-to-late 30s, and his best professional days behind him, Hanson, pictured, is more of a coach and an administrator now, with one of his primary roles being that of founder of the ITS Tour powered by the 2020protour.

But it doesn’t stop him teeing it up at Alwoodley on Monday as one of 150-odd golfers at the Leeds course and nearly 2,000 golfers across 15 sites in Britain dreaming of securing one of the 16 places on offer at Royal Liverpool next month, just as he did nine years ago.

“It doesn’t ever feel that far away, it’s only three good rounds of golf - or one okay and two really good rounds,” says Hanson, who like the rest of the field will play 18 holes today in the hope of getting through to local final qualifying early next month when just four players at four different venues will reach Hoylake.

“I always look forward to it, it’s a good event and a nice feel to it.

“You get a variety of players and they’re all chasing that dream. It is way out of reach for a lot of people but they get to have a go and with this new handicap system, a lot have got to scratch and the entries have become obscene.

“I know a couple of people who were two handicappers and got to scratch and were like ‘right, that’s it, I’m entering the Open’.”

On his own prospects, Hanson - who doesn’t play as much these days - says: “Not expecting too much really. Alwoodley is a pretty good test, one of my lessons played it yesterday and said it was in amazing condition. This rain is probably only going to make it longer and softer.”

“You’ve always got it in the back of your mind that you can play the Open again.”