Robertson revels in the big occasion as PGA man prepares for Open Championship debut

19/07/2023

Whatever happens at The Open Championship for Graeme Robertson this week, the Scotsman is already a winner.

Even if the 35-year-old doesn’t make the cut on Friday, he’s guaranteed a cheque for at least $8500. If he does make it to the weekend, the minimum he will shove into his back pocket will be $32,000. It’s nice work if you can get it.

“I’m quids in,” smiled Robertson of a potentially lucrative few days at Hoylake. “I’d say my biggest cheque as a pro has been £2,000 to £3,000. It’s a free hit for me this week.”

Robertson, who is in his second year of The PGA’s training programme, teed-up an Open debut by coming through a five-hole play-off in the final qualifying shoot-out at Dundonald a couple of weeks ago.

Now, he will fly The PGA flag at the world’s most celebrated major championship.

“It’s a dream come true,” added the former Scottish Assistants’ champion. "It is one of those things that you just don’t think will ever happen. My friends have been mentioning the top golfers who aren’t going. Guys like Sergio Garcia and Graeme McDowell who are massive names are missing out. And here’s me, a guy from Falkirk.

“The buzz is really building. The last four or five holes of my practice round on Wednesday, the crowds were really building. The PGA was my route back into golf after I had a spell away so this is a chance to give them something back.”

That hiatus saw Robertson work for a number of years as a salesman in a building supplies firm. With a fine pedigree in the amateur game, he finally turned professional in 2021 and is relishing the opportunity to pit his wits against the best in the business.

“I’ve had some nice practice rounds and when you play with them, you realise that you’re not a million miles away from them,” he said. “If I can stick to my game plan then hopefully there’s a chance to at least make the cut.”

Robertson was set to be up and at it on Thursday while the larks were still flapping a weary wing at the snooze button with a 6:46 tee-time in the company of Russell Henley of the USA and Thailand’s Jazz Janewattananond.

“It’s a decent draw to be fair and if I could pick a tee-time it would be that one,” he said of his outing in the dawn patrol when conditions could be nice and favourable. “It gets me out there early. I just want to play to my strengths and treat it like a normal tournament.”

While revelling in the atmosphere of The Open, Robertson has missed out on one memorable experience.

“I actually had an absolute shocker the other day,” said Robertson with a wry grin. “I was playing with Mikey Stewart (a fellow Scottish qualifier) and we got to the 15th green. The 16th goes back the other way so I said to Mikey, ‘look, I’m knackered, I’m just going to call it a day’.

“So, as I stepped off the tee, Dustin Johnson and Gary Woodland came over and said ‘is it alright if we join you boys?’ I was absolutely gutted but I just couldn’t go back. You couldn’t have scripted it.”

The opportunity to play with a couple of major champions may have passed him by but Robertson is loving his own major moment.