PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. | When amateur Aine Donegan was traveling to play in her first U.S. Women’s Open at Pebble Beach Golf Links, the last thing she was thinking about was her golf clubs. This week marks Donegan’s debut in both a major championship and on the LPGA Tour, and she’s playing the No. 1 public course in the United States. Not to mention the Irishwoman is teeing it up in the same field as some of golf’s greatest superstars, players like Michelle Wie West, Annika Sorenstam, Nelly Korda and Rose Zhang. Her golf clubs? The least of her concerns.

So when her clubs didn’t arrive on the carousel at San Francisco International Airport after she traveled from a team event in Scotland, and then didn’t even come the next day, Donegan went to work figuring out a plan B. After sending out an SOS message on Twitter to the airline responsible, she asked PING to piece together a set that would tide her over until her clubs were delivered to Pebble Beach.

“I played my first practice round with PING clubs. I play PING irons, and so that helped anyway,” Donegan said. “That particular practice round I started to hit the driver really well and I said it to my caddie, who's also my coach, Gary (Madden), I said, ‘I might change to this driver for the week.’ He said, ‘We’re going to have a bit of a dilemma when your clubs do arrive.’”

But when the bag finally did show up on Tuesday, Donegan’s driver was in two pieces, making the choice to use the new one much easier. “The clubs arrive the next day, I think on Tuesday, and my driver is smashed, completely smashed,” Donegan said. “At least it stopped us thinking oh, which driver we'll use. We had only one choice then. So I put that in. Honestly, I am delighted I did. It's like everything happens for a reason, that the clubs were late and then the driver came and it was broken and all of a sudden I have no choice but to put this PING driver in.”

It was the right choice as Donegan fired a 3-under 69 on Thursday at Pebble Beach, carding four bogeys, five birdies and an eagle hole-out from the fairway on the par-4 15th hole. If someone had asked the 21-year-old early in the week what the highlight of her U.S. Women’s Open experience was, she would probably have said her Tuesday practice round with Sorenstam. But now, her opening 3-under is definitely a contender, a round that Donegan will never forget, like most everything else that’s happened to her this week.

“Definitely the top,” said Donegan when asked where her first-round 69 ranks in her career. “No doubt about it. Let’s just say it wouldn't be the first time I started bogey-bogey. For me to come back then and finish how I finished and play the rest of round, I'm really proud of myself for that.

“The whole thing has been a bit surreal to be honest. Nearly every five minutes it's like a pinch-me moment. On Tuesday, I played 18 holes with Annika, and honestly, one of the best days of my life. You learn a lot from her, and at the end of the day she's the icon of the game, the G.O.A.T. I can't thank my coach, Gary, enough, my college coaches, my parents. Teammates at LSU. I hope they're watching. All the people who helped me get here. I wouldn't be here without them.”

Amateur Aine Donegan Debuts With 69 After Driver Dilemma

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