Another day at the office for McGrane

Super professional Damien McGrane is blocking out the major hype in his second successive Open start.

The Kells man, 38, has vowed to treat the world's biggest major as "just another tournament."

McGrane is ready for the grindHoping to improve on his debut at Birkdale last year, where he missed the cut by a shot, McGrane said: "I am not trying to knock the tournament, it is lovely to play in a British Open and lovely to compete and hopefully play well.

"But it is still a case of hitting fairways and greens, no matter how you look at it. To be honest I think it is a tournament like any other.

"That's the way I approached it last year. Okay, it's all a big doo-dah for the press but it is all the same old same old for me.

"This week the priority is to hit straight shots and deal with the wind. When I am standing on the 18th tee box, my priority is to hit the fairway and not the fact that it is the British Open."

Ireland's top finisher in last week's Scottish Open at Loch Lomond, McGrane is concentrating on putting in a good performance in Scotland.

A former apprentice at Portmarnock, he knows how to get around a links course and rates Turnberry as a serious test.

He said: "The rough is extreme but you deal with the conditions each week as you find them. You have to do all the right things and hit plenty of good golf shots and you will have a chance.

"Okay there is a bit more hullabaloo but it is the same as any other week. If you play golf for a living, it is a four round tournament and you rock up and hope to play well."