Rónán MacNamara in Royal Troon
Tom McKibbin arrives in Royal Troon battle hardened by his experience at the US Open in Pinehurst as he prepares for his Open Championship debut this week.
McKibbin made the cut on his major championship debut last month on a golf course where he admitted to feeling nervous over every shot. It will serve as an invaluable learning experience as the Holywood star learned what makes the very best tick on one of the four biggest weeks of the year, including a first hand taste when he played the weekend alongside Scottie Scheffler.
The 21-year-old showed great determination to make the cut, rolling in a fifteen-foot par effort on the last to squeeze into the weekend and he has a spring in his step ahead of the test in South Ayrshire this week.
“It was just such a different test of golf, the golf course itself was just so hard without even doing anything to it. The guys were stronger, able to go deeper for how hard some of the courses are, it definitely is a level up,” said McKibbin.
“It gave me a lot of confidence. I’m still 21, quite young, nice to know I am capable of putting four decent rounds together. Pinehurst was such a hard golf course, it was something I never experienced in that way.
“After the first couple of rounds I didn’t know how to make a birdie never mind being five or six under after two rounds! How some of those guys can go that low on such a tough golf course was an experience I was happy to have and it should make a difference.
“You certainly learned a few things about your game. For such a difficult course you are nervous over every shot, chip or putt. Definitely a good place to learn and I am very happy that I got to play there first as opposed to here.”
McKibbin’s major championship learning continued on Tuesday morning as he played a practice round with former Claret Jug winners Rory McIlroy and Darren Clarke at 06:45.
“Two different styles of golf, I think Pinehurst has a lot of scary shots whereas I think that’s the hardest we are going to get which makes the shots here a lot less intimidating,” added the former European Open winner.
McKibbin has never played Royal Troon before but his veteran caddie Dave McNeilly has sauntered around here five times since his first Open at this very venue in 1982 and should provide the rookie with some invaluable nuggets of knowledge as he looks to get to grips with links golf.
“He’s here, not at any train stations at the minute. He did his first Open here in 1982 and has been to all of them since. It will be good to have his experience out here. Golf is so different when you don’t come to a place for eight or nine years, it can be hard to remember so he is a good man to have.
“First time I have played, it’s pretty cool. It’s like it’s two different golf courses, the front nine is down off the right which is nice then you hang on the way in every hole is in off the left and very long.
“I’ve gotten a lot better at it over the years. I find it’s very hard when you don’t play, when you play a lot of it you can get into a good rhythm of it and you know what you have to do.
“It’s quite tricky and I struggle sometimes with how firm the ground is especially last week was the first time I had played on a links course since the Scottish Open the year before! It takes some adjusting I have found it quite difficult hitting off some of the firm lies in the fairways with irons when you are used to just soft.”
McKibbin’s body clock should be on point this week as he faces another 06:45 start on Thursday morning alongside former Ryder Cup player Alex Noren and Walker Cup star Calum Scott of Scotland.
