Croft relishing Open Championship debut at Royal St. George's

‘I called my dad straightaway and, as soon as he answered, I just collapsed into a ball’

Mersey Valley’s Daniel Croft will make his Open debut this week after dramatically coming through Final Qualifying at West Lancs.

Daniel Croft spends most weeks either giving lessons or playing in as many tournaments as possible. He turned pro at just 19 to start his PGA training and get his qualifications, with the likely reality that he would need to earn some money in case the riches of the European Tour didn’t immediately materialise.

“The idea was to coach and play alongside each other and that’s what I’m doing now. I do 25-30 lessons a week at Mersey Valley, with a couple of hours coaching kids and I’ll play the rest of it wherever I can play.”

This week Croft will be teeing it up in the 149th Open Championship having come through both Regional and Final Qualifying. The 24-year-old from Prescot, which is an hour away from the likes of Hoylake, would claim one of the three golden tickets at West Lancs as a putter that had stayed pretty cold this year, warmed up just at the right time.

“I’ve been playing some really good golf but I’ve not been getting anything out of it on the greens. I was 4th in the North Region Championships at Pleasington where I really could have won had I putted better and I missed the cut by a shot at the PGA Professional Championship & Playoffs at Blairgowrie when I really couldn’t have hit the ball any better. And then it all kind of came together on that afternoon in Final Qualifying when I felt like every putt that I had missed this year decided to go in.”

Having both the Regional and Final Qualifying being played at the same venues this year helped matters – Croft won the Faldo Series at West Lancs when he was 15 and the two times he’d made it through the Regional Qualifying had  both been at the same course. So, while there were still 54 holes and a host of big names to get past, he was quietly hopeful about his chances.

“I love that course and I was made up to see Final Qualifying being played there. I said to my caddy that all I wanted to do was to give myself a chance with nine holes to go and, if I did, then I would quite fancy myself.”

Croft went into lunch after a morning two-under 70, thanks to a strong back nine, with a plan to just keep doing what he’d been doing and to try and finally start to find the right lines on the greens. But nothing was happening early on in the afternoon and time was running out as he failed to make any inroads on the leaders.

“I was -1 overall but then had three birdies on the trot from the 17th (Croft started on the 10th), I made a bad bogey on the 4th to drop to -3 and I got on the 5th tee and checked the leaderboard and thought I had to get to -7 and then see what happens. I birdied 5, 6 and 7, checked the leaderboard again and I was now two ahead on my own. I was getting a bit nervous but I holed a 15-footer at my penultimate hole. I checked again and I now had two shots to play with.

“My playing partners, Joe Brice and Barclay Brown, were brilliant and couldn’t have done more in supporting me and getting out of the way. They were cheering and clapping every putt. I steered a 2-iron down the right-hand side away from the trouble, hit a 9-iron into the middle of green and made a nice par to finish. I had six birdies in the last 11 holes with just 15 putts so it was all a bit silly really.”

Croft is quick to point out the part that his coach John O’Neill has played, as well as Adrian Fryer over the past 10 years. And, alongside him throughout at West Lancs, as he will be at Royal St George’s, is his good mate Mick Flynn.

“He’s the type of guy who just helps my personality, he’s really funny and upbeat and is so chilled out and that helps me massively and stops me getting tight and in my own head space. We just enjoy ourselves which is massive. He keeps the mindset right and keeps me laughing and I just do the golf.”

Another member of the Croft party who will make the trip to Kent is Croft’s dad, John. When the dates came out Croft Sr realised that he was playing in a senior open at Sandiway on the same day as Final Qualifying and it was dad who he would ring first when his card had been signed and his place in the Open assured.

“When I finished I pulled my hat over my face, I was just crying all the way to the scorers’ tent and my mates who had been playing were jumping all over me. I called my dad straightaway and, as soon as he answered the phone, I just collapsed into a ball. I was crying my eyes out. It sounds so cliched but to play in The Open is a lifelong dream, it’s my favourite tournament in the world, I’ve been as a kid half a dozen times and I’m always glued to the TV when it’s on – to know I'll be teeing off at The Open is ridiculous.”