BY HIS own admission, Ben Loughrey could barely be in better form as he prepares to tackle the Amateur Championship on the Scottish Links courses of Royal Troon and Glasgow Gailes next week.

At the beginning of this week the Wrag Barn starlet blitzed the rest of the field at the English County Golf Championship to claim the individual title with a stunning 36-hole score of nine-under-par, and now Loughrey has his sights set on an event that has not been kind to him in the past.

The 23-year-old has not made the cut on any of his previous visits to the most prestigious tournament in the amateur version of the sport, which offers an exempt entry to this season’s Open Championship at Royal Lytham & St Anne’s to its champion.

But he insists that will not weigh on his mind as he bids to overcome the world’s best north of the border.

“I’ve got the biggest week of the year coming up next week and I could not be going into it feeling much better,” he said.

“My game is looking pretty good and I’m happy with how I’m playing. Now I’m just going to relax and take it all as it comes.

“That’s how I try to treat it all anyway. Last week I didn’t do too well at St Andrew’s but I put it behind me and obviously did well this week, and it’ll be the same up there.

“I’ll put this week behind me and start again.

“I’ve missed the cut every time I’ve played in it, it’s not been very good.

“That doesn’t stick on my mind at all, I take each week as it comes and hopefully I’ll be able to play well.

“I’ll have a couple of days to relax. I’ve had pretty much the ideal preparation and I’ve been playing well.”

Loughrey flew up to Scotland on Friday fresh off the back of his impressive performance at Cumberwell Park, where he also inspired Wiltshire to reach the English County Finals - which will be played at Beau Desert in Staffordshire in September.

And he was delighted with his own performance.

“If I look after my own score then that will do my bit for the team and it seems to work for me that way,” he said.

“I putted really well, I just played really solid golf and I had no bogeys in the first round which is always going to help.

“I didn’t make any major mistakes and when that happens you’re always going to be in with a chance.

“I know the course really well and that helped, but really it all came together at the right time and I was happy with it.”