Jack McDonald is heading to Royal Birkdale via Rome after winning another Open shot. The Ayrshire man booked his place in the 154th Championship by winning the 36-hole Dundonald qualifier.
McDonald repeated his feat of two years ago when he came through the same route to make The Open at Troon. Now the 33-year-old Barassie member is headed for Southport for a second Claret Jug experience to join countryman Bob MacIntyre, but not before a break in Italy.
McDonald's Holiday Plans and Victory
He said: "I always go on holiday about this time, so I’m going to Rome. I think it was Paris the last time. And then the flight got cancelled and I had to get the train up the road, I was like, what am I doing! It’s about 30,000 steps I’ll be doing that this year, but no, spot on."
McDonald shot an opening 70 before a second-round 69 sealed the deal and his experience of winning through in 2024 helped him seal the deal. He said: "Oh yeah, massively. Because you’ve done it before, you kind of know four-under’s got a good chance, five-under, you’ve got a really good chance. Luckily I was five-under going down the last. It was nice, obviously. I birdied 13 and eagled 14, so that was handy."
Reflections on Preparation and Previous Open
"I’ve barely played. I’ve played PGA events and stuff, but I’ve been working at the same time. I always liked this golf course and I was able to hit the shots that I needed to hit and happy days." McDonald missed the cut at Troon by a shot, but he’ll just savour Birkdale as he added: "Troon was difficult the way it was playing. I’ll expect the way they do it because they make it difficult. I’m looking forward to it, but I’ve just got to enjoy it."
England’s Matthew Baldwin, Irish amateur David Howard, Dutch amateur Nevill Ruiter and American Marcus Plunkett also qualified from Dundonald.
Sergio Garcia's Stomach-Churning Failure
Sickened Sergio Garcia felt like puking during a stomach-churning Open failure. The Spaniard’s bid to make Royal Birkdale turned sour after he said he felt dodgy following lunch at West Lancs. Garcia carded a first-round 68 in the qualifier, but his effort crumbled in round two with a shuddering 75 which left him out of the places for the 154th Championship.
Afterwards, the ex-Masters champion blamed grub and said: "I had a little bit of food there in the players’ lounge and it did not sit well with me. I only ate the lasagne. I thought maybe have a little pasta and stuff, but for some reason it didn’t sit well with me. I struggled very much my first nine holes afternoon. Nauseous. I felt like I was going to puke pretty much on every hole."
"I thought about stopping after nine [holes]. But I thought: Well, let’s play a couple more and see if I get something going, but unfortunately it didn’t happen."
