THE 154TH OPEN

July 16, 2026

Jack McDonald

Mixed Zone

Q. Good start, was it not?

JACK McDONALD: Yeah, I did play well. Yeah, I played my game plan. I just kind of stuck to my game plan. I was hitting driver a lot and trying to do something. That was just the way I was wanting to do it.

But yeah, had some really good shots at the start. Definitely.

Q. But sort of the approach leading up, were you thinking it suits you to just go with driver?

JACK McDONALD: Yeah, I would just say that it's like -- I think you can tackle it one of two ways. You can be quite defensive and you can attack it, but you just need to accept if you get out of position that you're fighting. That was my theory, yeah.

Q. Did you have a little peek at the leaderboard after five holes?

JACK McDONALD: Yeah, I was just out there enjoying it and just having a bit of fun. I tried not to kind of look at anything. You just try and do what you can do.

But no, the course is amazing, as well, the way it's playing.

Q. Do you feel less pressure than a year ago?

JACK McDONALD: It's quite hard to answer that, I think, because this is the biggest event, in my opinion, in the world. But yeah, I don't know. I think it's probably quite similar, to be honest. But it's just good to have been out there and playing, really.

Q. Double bogey, these things can happen at an Open Championship.

JACK McDONALD: But that was a perfect example I was telling you about. I hit driver and it went over a bunker so I could hit it on the green.

Q. Did it stay in?

JACK McDONALD: Yeah, it stayed in, and then I just had to try and get a yardage because I couldn't -- I was up against the face. So I was like, right, I'll just try and get a yardage now that I could be comfortable with to try and make a bogey basically.

But that's what you need to do. You just need to accept that you hit it in the bunker, you made a mistake, and then you just go from there.

Q. What club did you try and hit the first time?

JACK McDONALD: It was a wedge, I think. But I caught it thin. I just caught the top of the lip.

Q. How many holes did you play in preparation this week?

JACK McDONALD: I can't remember. I played 18 on Monday, and then I didn't play Tuesday at all.

Q. What was the thinking behind that?

JACK McDONALD: Yeah, I don't know. I was just like -- it was really warm. I was out there and going, this is really warm.

Q. Try and conserve energy?

JACK McDONALD: Yeah, and then I went out and played on Wednesday morning, which was really nice. It was perfect. Was lucky to play with Max Homa, which was really cool. But yeah, no, it was -- and I always play -- I never done it at Troon. I never played on the Wednesday, and I thought the golf course changed a wee bit from the Tuesday to the Thursday, so I was like, no, I want to play Wednesday this time, even if I was nine holes yesterday, just to know how it's kind of playing as close as I can.

Q. When was the last time you've played a course as fiery as that?

JACK McDONALD: Oh, that's a good question. As fiery. Don't get me wrong, it was really fiery, but I think it's just going to get more so, I would say. But yeah, there's premiums just hitting fairways. If you're able to hit fairways, you can get going, I would say.

Q. Are you just going to stick with the same game plan tomorrow?

JACK McDONALD: Yeah, just go out and play and whatever will be will be. But yeah, that's my logic. If I'm able to commit to the golf shots and hit the shot that is required, happy days.

Q. How many drivers did you hit?

JACK McDONALD: The only hole I didn't was 9.