TRON, Scotland

Visit the massive clothing and souvenir venue of the 152nd Open Championship, also known as “The Shop,” and you’ll see people from all over the world.

On Saturday, you may have run into a few friends and Clemson graduates who had come from all sides of the Atlantic to spend a week at Royal Troon.

Austin Specter, 32, a former Columbia resident who attended Spring Valley High School, was on a business trip to Zurich, Switzerland, when the idea of ​​flying to Scotland for the final major championship of 2024 struck him as a great idea. So great, in fact, that he reached out to fellow 2013 Clemson graduate David Mintz and convinced him to come down from New York City.

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“I said, ‘Hey, it’s going to be a great experience,’” Specter said. “I said, ‘Let’s go to the Open and play some golf.’” And they did, enjoying rounds at famous Scottish courses like Turnberry, Dumbarnie and Kingsbarns.

Specter also invited his wife Emily to fly from their home in Pensacola, Florida, for the adventure. She initially accepted, but then changed her mind due to a case of mistaken identity.

“I said, ‘Hey, do you want to go to the British Open?’ and she said yes,” he said. “But when I told her more, she said, ‘No, you can’t.’”

Why not?

“She’s a tennis person,” Specter said. “She thought I was talking about Wimbledon.”