First golfer from Estonia to make British Open did so after holing out for eagle in playoff

Qualifiers for majors always produce some great stories and the 2025 British Open final qualifiers were no different.

Especially at the West Lancashire qualifier in Liverpool, England, where Richard Teder, an amateur, became the first golfer from Estonia to make it to a British Open.

Teder, ranked 91st in the World Amateur Golf Rankings, did it in one of the more interesting, and heartstopping, ways. Coming down the stretch, he seemed pretty safely in at 7 under. Lucas Herbert won this qualifier at 8 under but disaster struck Teder on the 18th hole when he made double bogey.

That dropped him to 5 over, but all was not lost. That sent him to a 4-for-2 playoff.

So what did he Teder do on the first playoff hole? After hitting driver close to 340 yards, when his competitors chose to hit 3-wood, Teder holed out his second shot from 80 yards for eagle.

It was a remarkable rollercoaster of events that led the amateur to do what no one from his country had done before. Playing out of Estonian Golf & Country Club, Teder is now in the history books.

"It doesn’t feel real to have qualified for The Open. It feels like a dream," he said afterwards. "I couldn't believe the shot went in during the playoff. It just disappeared. It's an unbelievable feeling."

Here's another angle of the amazing chip-in:

Teder won the Estonia Match Play and was second in the Estonian Amateur Open in 2025. Last year, he won the Latvian Amateur Open. None of those compare to what's to come.

“Everyone dreams of playing in a major," he said. "I didn’t think I would ever get to play in a major, but here I am."

Teder's club is one of seven golf courses in Estonia, according to visitestonia.com. The first one in the country was built in 1993.

Estonia, a nation of 1.3 million people, is located south of Finland across the gulf in Northern Europe. It was formerly a part of the Soviet Union.