In the here, there and everywhere birl that is par for the course as a touring golfer, the diary can be as jam-packed as one belonging to a great socialite.
Since stepping away from full-time competition last October, though, Jack McDonald’s own playing diary has not contained as many entries. There’s one big one scribbled in this July week, of course.
The Open is probably etched on the page in letters the size of the Hollywood sign. “I was probably going to play the Bothwell Castle Pro-Am this weekend on the Tartan Tour,” said McDonald with a smile that was as bright as the Southport sun. “This is a nice addition.”
It doesn’t get much bigger than the game’s oldest and most celebrated major. For the second time in three years, McDonald is back among the global stars for the 154th staging of the championship.
As he did for the 2024 Open in his own backyard of Royal Troon, McDonald successfully came through the 36-hole qualifier at Dundonald Links.
At Troon a couple of years ago McDonald missed the cut in his maiden Open outing by a single shot over a course he knew like the back of his hand.
The seared links of Royal Birkdale, that’s as firm and fiery as the walls of a blast furnace, will be a very different test, but McDonald is looking forward to the robust examination.
“It obviously feels a bit different,” he added. “I’m not as familiar with the golf course, but The Open is amazing and everything that comes with it is very similar.
“I played here at Birkdale once before during the Walker Cup week at Lytham (in 2015). It’s a lot different, though, and I can’t really remember too much about it as it was that long ago.
“But, with the changes they’ve made, it’s a proper test of golf. It’s running fast out there and I don’t think there is any rain in the forecast, so I would imagine that it is going to be very firm over all four days.
" The firmer it gets, the more premium there will be on hitting fairways.”
McDonald, whose well-kent grandfather Gordon Cosh played in the Duel in the Sun Open of 1977 at Turnberry, chipped away at the coalface of professional golf for many seasons.
He was a winner on the now defunct PGA EuroPro Tour and had a couple of close shaves on the second-tier HotelPlanner Tour but never made it to the top rung of the European ladder.
Last year, he decided to take a different path and began his PGA training.
He finished his full-time playing career with a flourish and won the season-ending Tour Championship on Paul Lawrie’s Tartan Pro Tour by seven shots.
McDonald may have thought his Open outing in 2024 would be a once in a lifetime experience. In this game, though, opportunity always comes knocking.
“I’m enjoying the change in career direction,” said the Barassie man, who has completed the first year of his PGA training under the shrewd tutelage of David Orr at Whitecraigs Golf Club on Glasgow’s southside.
“Working, playing some golf, it’s a mix of everything. I just wanted to work in the golf industry after I stopped full-time playing and The PGA option was a great opportunity for me.
“I probably never expected to be here at The Open again. But we are and we’ll give it a good go.”
When McDonald first played in The Open, there was a lot take in. He was the local lad, with plenty of local support.
Standing on the range next to some of the game’s biggest names, meanwhile, was quite the experience.
Here at Birkdale, the Scot has a better idea of what it’s all about and he's not the wide-eyed first timer anymore. The Open is still a daunting proposition but McDonald is not here to make up the numbers.
“I’ve played tournament golf all my life, coming up through the ranks, and that feeling of belonging there is the same at every level you get to,” he said of the different stages of his development.
“It’s like going from amateur golf to the Challenge Tour (HotelPlanner Tour). It’s the next level. The Open is the highest level, and you just have to play golf.
“You are always trying to climb the ladder in this game. It just so happens I’m now playing in the biggest tournament in the world. As a kid you’re always dreaming of holing a putt for The Open. To be able to play in it twice is amazing.”
It’s quite the date in the diary.
