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TSN Senior Reporter

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Austin Connelly was a bit of an unknown coming in to the Open Championship this week and as such, there have been quite a few unusual questions thrown his way. And he’s answered them all dutifully and politely.

There have been questions about his citizenship. (He’s dual American-Canadian.)

About his connections to Canada. (His grandparents are from Nova Scotia and his father is from Toronto.)

About his friendship with Jordan Spieth. (He shares the same swing coach and agent.)

About where he’s been playing his golf of late. (Splitting time between the Challenge Tour and the European Tour.)

But undoubtedly the strangest query came from a British reporter who asked the 5-foot-7 Connelly if there was any advantage in the breezy conditions to being short.

“I’ve never been taller, so I can’t really comment,” was his reply.

Connelly is becoming better known because of his golf game so far this week. The 20-year-old from Dallas sits at one under after 36 holes and well within striking distance of the top of the leaderboard. Playing not only in his first Open, but his first major of any kind, he’s been more than impressive.

“I’ve said all week I’m very comfortable on this golf course,” Connelly stated. “I enjoy links golf and I’m just very confident with where my game is right now. I’ve been trending in the right direction for a while. It hasn’t showed up so much in the results – I’ve had a couple of good finishes -- but I’m very happy with where my game is and I think this place really fits my game well.”

On Friday, Connelly, out in the fourth group of the day, played steady golf in the gusting winds, rolling off 10 pars before a birdie on the 11th. Three bogeys coming in blemished his card, but not his spirits on what was a brutally difficult day.

“I feel really good about it,” he said of the final tally. “It was extremely difficult. The wind was gusting and chopping and changing. It was just nice to get through a day like today, survive and get through the weekend.”

As mentioned, Connelly isn’t going to be confused for Brooks Koepka any time. The program lists him at 150 pounds, but that could be when he’s carrying his golf bag. As such, he isn’t going to overpower a golf course any time soon. Instead, he dissects it and wears on the centre of the face on his long irons.

On Friday, he played roughly half his approach shots with more than a five-iron, using his laser-like accuracy almost to perfection, guiding the ball towards the target on a day when it was not easy to do.

“I feel like I can hit three-irons very straight and still make pars and grind through the holes, as hard as they are, just because I know where it’s going.”

Not to be overlooked was his putter. He rolled in some healthy, par-saving putts – especially at eight and 10 -- from knee-knocking length to keep his round moving in the right direction.

Now he heads to the weekend with half the goals on his list checked off. First was to make the cut and, second, he wants to rise up the leaderboard through the weekend. A good finish here could go a long way towards giving Connelly full status on the European Tour next year. He’s currently splitting his time between the Euro circuit and its minor-league version, the Challenge Tour, which makes stops in such golf hotbeds as the Czech Republic and Kazakhstan. He usually finds out a week or 10 days before, which tour he’s going play that week. It’s certainly not ideal when it comes to preparation.

“[It would] be so nice to be able to plan my schedule from the start of the year and not have to buy plan tickets a week out,” he joked, “but I can’t really look at it like that. It’s one shot at a time, one stroke at a time.”

Unlike most American/Canadians, Connelly is in no rush to get back to the PGA Tour. He’s enjoying his European jaunt and thinks this might be where he continues to play for the next few years. He feels he’ll be a much better player by spending some time over here, building up his arsenal of shots, testing new courses and seeing the world.

Right now, he looks comfortable on the course at Royal Birkdale and confident in his ability to keep playing as he has through the first 36 holes. Even if he doesn’t raise the Claret Jug on Sunday, he should have done well enough that no one would need to enter his name in Google to figure out just who he is.