Anyone watching the Open coverage over the last few days may have noticed a strange sight on the course at Royal Troon; a golf bag emblazoned in the colours and logo of Premier League football club West Ham. Stranger still, it belongs to the American Billy Horschel, a player with no English blood and no familial ties to East London as far as anyone is aware.

With Horschel in contention to win the 152nd Open – the 37 year-old led the field heading into the final day – the bag has been getting more than its fair share of screen time, leaving many viewers perplexed. Why on Earth is a player born and brought up in Florida so passionate about a Premier League team 4000 miles away? The answer is, he was inspired by the film Green Street.

“During my sophomore year of college I moved into a new apartment and the cable wasn’t going to be hooked up for a couple of days so we went to Best Buy and bought a couple of DVDs, and one of those DVDs was Green Street,” Horschel explained at the Open in 2021.

“I loved the movie, I loved Charlie Hunnam as an actor and obviously the film is about the firms at Millwall and West Ham, and from there I started following them. Since about 10-12 years ago I’ve been paying really close attention to them since NBC Sports starting showing Premier League games.

“I’m always watching their matches and any Premier League [matches] actually, but I follow them very closely and I’m aware of how they’re doing, the transfer window and just a die hard supporter like I am for my Florida Gators.”

With Horschel and his bag in the spotlight this week, his views on all things West Ham have been sought almost daily. He has already given his blessing to new manager Julen Lopetegui and opined that potential transfer target N’Golo Kante is too expensive (“$20m (£15m) for a 33-year-old, I don’t think that’s really good business”). Although he has come across a little Ted Lasso at times. “Whenever I try to come over here I try to get the West Ham bag out,” Horschel told media on Friday. “Up the Hammers and come on you Irons.”