Darrell Watkins

Cool story out of #TheOpen final qualifying... Marcus Plunkett graduated from West Point, where he played college golf, in 2016. He then served five years in the Army as a transportation officer, spending his first year in South Korea before transferring to Fort Carson in Colorado Springs. He also did a six-month deployment to Afghanistan. Toward the end of his military service, he started playing golf again, breaking the record at Fort Carson’s course, Cheyenne Shadows. When he was discharged in May 2021, Plunkett decided to chase pro golf. He won the Dakotas Tour money list in 2024, then earned KFT status through Q-School later that year. However, he made just 8 of 20 cuts and finished No. 134 in points. All seven of his world-ranked starts this year have come in Asia, where he has two T-6’s on the Asian Tour. Now, he’ll play his first career major after a T-4 finish Tuesday at Dundonald Links.