Hearts fan Gabrielle Macdonald swaps Tynecastle for Kenya to start Ladies European Tour career

The 28-year-old enjoyed some hospitality on her latest visit to Tynecastle for the recent win over Motherwell, but her focus is now back on the sport involving a little white ball.

Finding herself nearly 5,000 miles from Gorgie Road, Macdonald is among four Scots teeing up in this week’s Magical Kenya Ladies Open, which marks the start of the 2022 Ladies European Tour season.

For Macdonald, it’s her first event on the circuit since becoming a new card holder on the back of two wins last season securing her graduation from the LET Access Series.

“When I won for the second time last year, I was happy to know that I was going to get the opportunity to move up the ladder,” said the former Scottish Women’s champion, who, having been a product of the East Lothian club along with Grant Forrest, is proudly flying the Craigelaw flag in her new workplace,

“It would have been great to turn pro and get straight on the LET, but, at the same time, it’s been good that my hard work has paid off and hopefully I can keep improving.”

Macdonald, who is joined in the line up at Vipingo Ridge by Michele Thomson, Laura Beveridge and Heather MacRae, hasn’t played competitively since the end of October.

“It’s hard when it’s so cold and the weather is poor here,” she said of the difficulty she’d encountered trying to get her game back up to speed again. “But I was in Dubai in January and that allowed me to get back into a rhythm and I’ve tried to keep that going since coming home.”

Part of that trip to the UAE was spent with Dean Robertson and his Stirling University golf scholars as they enjoyed a winter training camp at Al Ain Golf Club, where former Duddingston assistant pro Tom Buchanan is now running the entire operation.

“Dean is great at