Article by James Corrigan of the Daily Telegraph and published on the newspaper’s website on 5^th July 2014.

Photograph Getty Images

Rhys Enoch will carry the spirit of his younger brother to his first major at Hoylake this week as the Open Championship takes place. The Cornish Golfer’s debut in the event will be full of emotion after the tragic death of his younger brother and fellow golfer in a car accident.

Rhys Enoch knew when he saw the butterfly. This was his moment, his family’s moment, his late brother Ben’s moment.

Last Monday, in the tree-lined splendour of Woburn Golf Club, Enoch finally fulfilled his boyhood dream by qualifying for next week’s Open Championship at Hoylake. While he was hardly alone in turning that long-held fantasy into reality, he was perhaps unique in feeling he was playing for two people.

Ben Enoch was 19, two years Rhys’s junior, when he was killed in a car crash on his way to the Lytham Trophy in 2009. The big-hitting brothers had already made a name for themselves, and were being tipped to play in the same Walker Cup team. Cornish by birth and upbringing, but Welsh by descent, they played under the dragon’s flag.

Ben was his country’s youngest-ever captain, having followed Rhys into the game as eight-year-old. Growing up, they were inseparable on Truro Golf Course, sweeping all asides as they climbed the ranks. Rhys holds the course record with a 59. Ben had shot a 60.

Rhys was already on a scholarship at East Tennessee State University and Ben was soon to join him. Golf’s golden fairways stretched long before them.

But then Ben was gone and Rhys had to return to Johnson City on his own. He finished his five-year master’s degree in sports management but never did make it to the Walker Cup. Enoch was still rated an exciting talent – he was signed by the ISM agency, which oversees the likes of Lee Westwood – yet when he did turn professional, his results thereafter might have led the uninformed to predict a short career.

However, Enoch’s story is complicated, his struggles thus far owing more to debilitating illness – he suffered from ME – than a grieving heart.

In fact, Ben’s influence was certainly a positive force at Woburn. In a three man play-off for one spot, Enoch holed out from just over the back of the first extra hole. “I had this strange feeling I was going to chip in,” Enoch said. “I can’t explain it, but when I looked up, it was dropping into the centre of the hole – perfect. Initially, I was like: ‘Wait a minute, does that mean I’m going to Hoylake?’. It was surreal.

“But then, I had the feeling I’d make it all day. My mum is quite a spiritual person and since his death has associated Ben with butterflies. On the 11th, which was my second, just as I was about to hole a long putt a butterfly landed by the cup and sort of perched on the edge. Obviously, that made me think of Ben and spurred me on.”

Enoch has yet to attend a competitive day at a major, but Ben’s one visit was to Hoylake, when he was playing at the Junior Open at nearby Heswall in 2006.

“He went over to watch Tiger Woods on the Friday and was there when he holed that four-iron on the 14th for that famous eagle,” Enoch said. “He was full of it when he came back, saying how brilliant the atmosphere was and everything. When we were playing we would often say to each other: ‘This putt is for the Claret Jug’. Of course, after what he saw and heard at Hoylake it was an even bigger dream for Ben to play in an Open. And here I am. It’s funny how things sometimes work out.”

Except this will be far more than just an emotional pilgrimage for Enoch, and his parents, Tracey and Steven. This could be just the catalyst his career requires.

“This is a big opportunity for me,” Enoch said. “I turned pro two years ago and it’s been a struggle. Straight away, I got glandular fever so didn’t play for three months. I actually won my first pro event, when I chipped in at the last again on a mini-Tour. But then it triggered chronic-fatigue syndrome and I suffered for the next 18 months. I was not able to practise properly, go to the gym. You go from feeling absolutely fine to really run down. All you can do is sleep.”

The nadir came at the event which could have made him. “At European Tour qualifying school, I felt really bad the day before the tournament,” he said. “So I did 40 minutes of chipping and then went to bed – and slept for 16 hours straight. Ridiculous. But for the past few months it’s been much better and I feel I can now crack on. Everybody needs a special week to kick-start their career and why not Hoylake?”

Why not, indeed? Enoch heads to Hoylake on Tuesday and Wednesday to take in the Wirral links before the crowds descend.

“I’m most looking forward to the atmosphere at Hoylake which Ben told me about. I know that people there will ask me about Ben, but it’s not a hindrance – I enjoy talking about him and remembering Ben. Like I said, he’s a part of this.”