Hometown hero emulates grandfather 47 years on with Open appearance just reward for never giving up on dream

In case you hadn’t noticed, trying to make progress at the top level in professional golf is bloody difficult. Just ask Jack McDonald, who earlier this week teed up the biggest week of his life but has been working his socks off for almost a decade to earn that opportunity.

Having been among the 16 players who came through Final Qualifying at four venues around the UK on Tuesday, it will be a week to savour for McDonald when he officially registers for the 152nd Open at Royal Troon and for all sorts of reasons.

For starters, he’s a local boy, having cut his golfing teeth at Kilmarnock (Barassie) and currently lives in Barassie, which, by his own estimation, is just a ten-minute drive from where the Claret Jug will be up for grabs in the season’s final major in a fortnight’s time.

Barassie-based Jack McDonald birdied the first hole in a play-off at Dundonald Links on Tuesday to secure his spot in the 152nd Open at Royal Troon. Picture: Mark Runnacles/R&A/R&A via Getty Images.

As was the case with Colin Montgomrie when he came though Final Qualifying in 2016 to tee up at the venue where his dad, James, was once the club secretary, it will also be a family affair for McDonald at Royal Troon. His grandfather, Gordon Cosh, is an honorary member and first signed him on to play the course when he was either 12 or 13.

Oh, and there’s also the fact that he’s had to wait patiently for this massive opportunity after joining a long list of players to discover that success in the amateur game doesn’t bring any guarantees whatsoever when it comes to playing the sport for a living.

McDonald looked a star in the making in his journey through the amateur ranks, winning the Scottish Boys’ Stroke-Play Championship at Ladybank in 2009, helping Stirling University land numerous titles and playing in Great Britain & Ireland’s win the 2015 Walker Cup at Royal Lytham against a US side that included Bryson DeChambeau.

But, while he’s watched former Scotland team-mates like Bob MacIntyre, Grant Forrest, Ewen Ferguson and Connor Syme all become DP World Tour players, the process of climbing the professional ladder has been a slower one for McDonald, who was mentored by Dean Robertson during his spell at Stirling.

The 31-year-old has never played in a DP World Tour event since joining the paid ranks and, in just over 70 appearances on the Challenge Tour, has only managed to rack up a couple of top-ten finishes. Helped by three wins on the Tartan Pro Tour, though, since it was launched by Paul Lawrie in 2020, there have been signs that McDonald is starting to make some headway and, quite frankly, that is really pleasing to see.

What happened to him on Tuesday, when he birdied the first extra hole to beat compatriot Daniel Young and Swede Tim Widing for the last of four spots up for grabs at Dundonald Links, was proof that good things happen to good people. McDonald always came across as being a nice young guy and still is.

This is pure speculation, but there’s a chance surely that he could be asked to hit the opening shot in the 152nd Open and, boy, would that make it even more special as he follows in the footsteps of his grandfather after he played in the 1977 event a few miles down the Ayrshire coast at Turnberry.

“Just having a chance to compete with the world’s best is all I’ve wanted,” declared McDonald and now he’s earned it on his doorstep. Isn’t golf just brilliant at times?