Kelsey MacDonald unable to celebrate career-best pro effort due to self-isolating

It isn’t the way Kelsey MacDonald had envisaged celebrating her best performance on the Ladies European Tour in a professional career that started almost exactly seven years ago, having placed herself in self-isolation due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Kelsey MacDonald enjoyed a fourth-place finish in South Africa.

“I have been to six different places in three countries recently, so I am taking this step as a precaution,” the 29-year-old from Nairn told The Scotsman, having arrived home earlier this week at the end of a trip taking in events in Australia and South Africa, as well as time 
in the UAE.

MacDonald, a former Scottish Women’s champion, finished joint fourth in the last of those events, the Investec South African Women’s Open at Westlake Golf Club in Cape Town, at the weekend. She was tied for the lead coming down the stretch in the 54-hole event before England’s Alice Hewson broke away from the pack to claim victory.

“It was a real buzz to be in the mix on back nine and one which I enjoyed,” said MacDonald of her effort, which surpassed a tie for sixth in the La Reserve De Sotogrande event last season, though that was marginally worth more in monetary terms.

“I was very positive with my game and gave myself a lot of birdie opportunities, which, on another day, might have dropped. So, overall, very happy and confident going forward.”

It’s been an encouraging start to the season for MacDonald, who is one of the Aberdeen Standard Investments golf ambassadors. She finished around 30th in her first two starts in Australia.

“I am taking lots of confidence from all three events,” she added. “An event I was due to play in in Abu Dhabi got cancelled, but I was able to use the week to get some hard work in on the range and use the unbelievable facilities that were offered to us. That definitely proved worthwhile when I had my best finish the following week.”

The event in South Africa was the last to take place on any of the main tours before they all went into lockdown due to the coronavirus. The Jabra Ladies Open, due to be played at the Evian Resort in France in early May, is the next scheduled LET event, but that looks unlikely to take place.

“The majority of the LET girls were away for five or six weeks and maybe didn’t know the full extent or impact the virus was having until we got to Abu Dhabi and South Africa,” said MacDonald. “By that time, most of the sporting events were called off. It’s only now that it’s all sinking in that we were the only main tour event playing.

“From a personal view, it’s frustrating as we all love to play, especially when on form. But we respect and support the decisions made for the health and safety of everyone. We have to hope that everyone makes conscious efforts in order to fight this together.

“After my period of self-isolating, I will start planning and preparing as if my next event is still scheduled to go ahead. Keep my focus and goals clear. I think it would be easy to get distracted at this moment.

“We were always scheduled a five or six-week break on the LET, so I won’t be doing anything different from my original plan. We will see what happens in the next few weeks.”

Michele Thomson, another of the Scottish card holders on the circuit, had hoped to keep her game ticking over by playing against the men on the PGA EuroPro Tour only to see the third-tier circuit scrap its entire 2020 schedule earlier in the week.

“I had actually entered the Qualifying School at Formby Hall in a fortnight’s time, but that has now been cancelled,” said the Aberdonian, who is attached to the Paul Lawrie Golf Centre

“The health and safety of others is the most important thing at this serious time. There are many in the same position as me, and we are very uncertain at what lies ahead.”