A Dublin teenager is competing today for a prize of $3m in the Fortnite World Cup at New York’s sold-out Arthur Ashe stadium, more than Shane Lowry received for his famous victory at golf’s Open last weekend.

Seventeen-year-old Josh Juliano has already guaranteed himself a prize of $50,000 just by qualifying for the tournament as one of the world’s top 100 players of the hugely popular video game.

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He came through ten weeks of open qualifiers that attracted more than 40 million competitors, giving himself the chance to travel to the Big Apple to compete in the singles category in an inaugural World Cup tournament that has a total prize pot of $30m. Speaking from his New York hotel room, Josh – who is known in the online world by his gamertag LolB0om – says that the many hours of practice he has put in on the game Fortnite: Battle Royale are now paying off: “I am confident. I have been playing very consistently.”

“I want to become one of the best players in the world,” he told the Sunday Independent ahead of today’s tournament, It is expected that up to a million viewers will follow streams of the showdown where the last competitor standing will walk away with the $3m top prize.

Josh hopes that a good performance at the 23,000-seater Arthur Ashe stadium could also see him signed for one of the growing number of professional eSports team. Top players can earn as much as €30,000 a month.

Josh’s father and his older brother Jeff travelled to New York to support him and to help him prepare for the tournament.

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