While there are familiar names once again contesting major tournament glory at The Open this week, another fascinating battle happening further down the leaderboard is the race to be crowned best amateur – an honour collected by a teenage Rory McIlroy in 2007.

Nine amateur players have taken to the picturesque Royal Portrush course this week and the highest finisher will stand alongside the Champion Golfer on Sunday evening, picking up the prestigious Silver Medal.

The list of previous winners is a who’s who of the golfing greats – McIlroy followed in the footsteps of Jose Maria Olazabal (1985), Tiger Woods (1996) and Justin Rose (1998) with his effort at Carnoustie, while the likes of Matthew Fitzpatrick (2013) have since joined the group.

After Thursday’s opening round, Scotland’s Cameron Adam sat in pole position having posted a two-over par 73 and impressed in the early stages of Friday’s action too.

placeholder image — Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy won the Silver Medal on his Open debut in 2007. (Photo by PAUL ELLIS/AFP via Getty Images)

Adam, who is a left-handed Scot just like countryman Robert MacIntyre, won The Open’s Amateur Series, which is awarded to the player who does best across the St Andrews Links Trophy, The Amateur Championship and European Amateur.

The 22-year-old is making his major debut at Royal Portrush and was proud of his first showing.

"I felt like I played probably better than I shot,” said Adam after round one. “I've got to take a lot of confidence from how I hit the ball.

"I think it was something that I've never kind of felt going on that first tee and getting the first one going straight and then hitting a good second shot, was definitely kind of settling, and then to get going, that definitely made it easier.

"It's awesome. I think a lot of the guys have been great with me and just been trying to learn as much as I can, but I'm also here to compete.”

Richard Teder has created a piece of Open history by qualifying for this tournament when he holed for eagle from the fairway during a final qualifying play-off at West Lancashire.

The Estonian became the first player from a Baltic nation to qualify for The Open with that shot and he admits there’s a sense of pride at representing his nation on the sport’s biggest stage, shooting three-over par on Thursday.

“I’m excited,” he told Live At The Range this week. “It’s an honour being the first Estonian to be here and play golf in front of all these people and compete with the best in the world.

The 20-year-old added on BBC: "Being here is unbelievable – it's my favourite major by far, it's just awesome. It's the biggest tournament on the planet. It's such an honour being the first Estonian be here and it will be loads of fun."

Just like Teder, another player flying the flag for his country is Justin Hastings, who is the Cayman Islands’ sole representative in the field.

He booked his place by winning the Latin America Amateur Championship and will be looking to pick up another low amateur crown having claimed the prize at the US Open earlier this year.

Hastings played alongside former Open champion Cameron Smith on Thursday and Friday, and loved every moment of the experience.

"Yeah, we talked a little bit,” he said. “It was a cool experience.

"I grew up watching him. He's an unbelievable player. I remember when he won The Open at St Andrews.

"It was definitely like an "oh wow" kind of thing when you see the tee time. But it was cool. Everybody is doing their thing out there, so it's not exactly super social, but yeah, it was cool.”

Filip Jakubcik is another to have created a piece of history, becoming the maiden player from Czech Republic to feature at The Open.

It didn’t take the 21-year-old long to make an impact in Northern Ireland – he produced a stunning hole-in-one at the sixth during a practice round on Tuesday.

America’s Ethan Fang also carded three-over par during his opening round after becoming just the second American winner of The Amateur Championship since 1979 when he defeated Gavin Tiernan in the final at Royal St George’s on his first-ever trip to Europe.

The 20-year-old is ranked as the fourth-best amateur in the world and picked up four birdies in his maiden trip around Royal Portrush.

Scottish teenager Connor Graham will miss the cut after finishing on 10-over par across two rounds.

He has been a standout player for Texas Tech on the American College circuit and was victorious in a final qualifying play-off at Dundonald to seal his Portrush place.

English duo Frazer Jones and Seb Cave will also miss out on weekend action, as will South Africa’s Bryan Newman, who is the youngest player in The Open field at 17.

Talented teenager Newman won the Africa Amateur in his homeland earlier this year and enjoyed a highlight moment on Thursday at the par-five 12th, picking up a birdie.