Scottish Open Diary: Living the American dream

THE fact I’m playing in the Scottish Open still hasn’t sunk in and you’ll understand why I think it’s a dream when I say that my first full practice round was in the company of three top Americans here this week – Rickie Fowler, Jimmy Walker and Cameron Tringale. Wow!

Calum, second right, with Jimmy Walker, Cameron Tringale and Rickie Fowler. Picture: Contributed

I was practising on Monday night at Archerfield Links and Rickie Fowler was two bays down from me. I remember Zander Culverwell, a fellow amateur from Dunbar, saying to me once that the one thing you need to be in life is be bold.

So I went along and asked if he had any plans for today and he told me that he was going to go out for a practice round about 9am in the morning and he’d see me there if I wanted to join him.

There was no way I was going to miss out on an opportunity like that – and it was amazing. I had a great chat with Rickie on the way round and it was the same with Jimmy and Cameron. It was a morning I’ll never forget.

Fortunately, we got finished before the heavens opened above Gullane. We know what Scotland can be like with showers, but that’s four days in a row now that we’ve had really heavy rain and let’s hope it’s the last for the week.

The course is really good. It’s in great shape. I like the two holes they’ve used on No 2 and the new tee at the last is just phenomenal looking down on the village. It also makes you think a lot more with the tee shot.

Also walking round with us was Alan Murdoch, the pro at Kings Acre who has been my coach for the last four years. He also works with Pam Pretswell and Andy Oldcorn and has helped my game enormously. He’s actually a Gullane member so it’s a real thrill for him to see me playing in a Scottish Open here.

The same goes for my family, of course, and my aunt Evie and uncle Alex have delayed their return to Seattle so that they can see me tee it up with some of the best players in the world this week. I can’t wait!