Did you hear the one about the kid from Tampa who won the Open in his very first week playing the links? If you didn’t, it’ll be because neither did he. Right now it’s still a maybe. Jackson Suber, 26, square jaw, slim hips, big swing, and very long odds, was two shots clear of the field at one point on Friday morning, and even after he dropped three shots in as many holes, he managed to reach the clubhouse in second place, on six under par. The general reaction was much the same as it had been the previous evening when he first shot to the top of the leaderboard. Suber who?

You need to be a pretty close follower of the PGA Tour, or heavily invested in the University of Mississippi golf program to have any real idea. On Thursday evening everyone in the media centre was scurrying around to find out something worth knowing. The first stop is his Open biography, which reveals that he qualified for the championship by finishing in a tie for fourth in the Canadian Open, that this is his third major appearance after he played in the US Open in 2024 (73rd) and 2026 (missed the cut), and that he recently finished fourth in the Byron Nelson. Hmm.

Next is Suber’s PGA page, which explains that he “enjoys hunting and wakeboarding” and his “favourite sports team is the Tampa Bay Lightning”. And they say the game just doesn’t have any personalities these days. You have to dig into the clippings to get to the good stuff. He only goes by Jackson because he is a Jack’s son. His full name is actually John Weatherington Suber III, because of course it is, and he majored in finance at the University of Mississippi, because of course he did, and yes, extraordinarily, this is his very first trip to Europe.

Suber says the highlight so far was his train trip into Liverpool, an experience which he described as “awesome”. He’ll learn. And about links golf, too. Suber had never played it before his Monday practice round at Royal Birkdale. Watching him, it suits him just fine. “Well, the ball’s the same size,” he says. Suber just seemed to be having one of those weeks when everything works for him. Every time the ball fetched up in the rough he arrived to find it was sitting up just waiting to be struck, and each uncertain putt seemed to settle into the right line. Heck, even the trains are running on time.

“I’m thinking a wedge, just because of the way it’s sitting,” Suber told his caddie, Grayson Porter, as they stood in the rough after he’d walloped his tee shot over the back of the 5th green. “Follow your instincts here,” Porter told him. Suber nodded, set himself, and flicked the ball 16ft from the pin. “Only young though, isn’t he?” said the man watching him. “Is he English?” “No”, said his friend. “With a name like that? He’s surely a Yank.”

Suber had six hours sleep, and a sight more attention than he was used to. When he got back to the 1st tee in the morning he had an entourage of photographers and journalists with him, as well as a pack of new fans. Not that he seemed to notice. He spent most of the day happily chatting away to his playing partners, he made a point of acknowledging every one of their good shots. It was only when he made it to the 6th and the putts suddenly stopped dropping for him that things finally started to sour.

He took three putts on the green at the 6th, three more at the 7th, three more at the 8th. All of a sudden he was back to three under, and sinking fast. Well, the man had had his moment and, to be fair, it had lasted 15 hours instead of the usual 15 minutes.

It was round about this point that Suber stopped and took his first little look at the big yellow leaderboards dotted around the course. “I took a glance and I saw that it’s not like people were tearing it up,” he said. Luckily for him, Lucas Herbert was an hour and a half behind, and only just playing the 3rd. “You just know that in a major things are going to get challenging at some point, no matter how you play, so you just need to be patient with that and let the good golf come later.” Which is more sense than you’d expect from a guy who’s just dropped three shots to blow a lead in his first Open Championship.

Suber didn’t have to wait long. He made back-to-back birdies with 20ft putts at the 10th and 11th, and though he dropped another shot at the 13th, he made two more on the two par fives along the home stretch to finish with a second-round score of 69. Suberb.