Former MK Dons winger to feature in US Open golf major

Footballers playing golf is not an uncommon sight, but Carl Baker is heading to the US Open.

The former MK Dons man will feature in the major on the bag for Robert Rock at Pinehurst in North Carolina next month.

Baker spent two seasons at Stadium MK after leaving Coventry City in September 2014. The winger was a part of the famous promotion winning side, and was a regular in the Championship too for Karl Robinson’s men. He scored 15 goals in 79 appearances before departing for Portsmouth.

Playing in the Indian Premier League before returning to England, Baker played in the non-leagues before hanging up his boots last summer, and picking up the golf clubs. Seeing his handicap drop to single figures swiftly, he was asked to carry the bag for Rock at the Open qualifiers in Surrey.

Rock, the winner of the Italian Open and the Abu Dhabi Championship in 2011 and 2012, then finished joint fourth to make his second appearance at the competition.

“It’s the most random thing ever,” Baker told the Coventry Telegraph. “He’s played at Walton Heath in Surrey for the last ten/eleven years and never qualified, but the field is ridiculous. I think 95 percent of the 150-160 in the field are all tour pros, all massive names and millionaires who do it as a full-time job. Obviously Rocky doesn’t play much anymore, just once a week socially, so he hasn’t got a caddy.

“So I said to him that if he’s thinking of playing in the US Open qualifier to let me know because I’d caddy for him. He said that would be great so we went down on Monday and played two 18 holes on the same day.

“We went there with zero expectations and I was just buzzing to be on a top golf course in this country and inside the ropes with all these players I am used to watching on the telly, so it felt a bit surreal being in the clubhouse with all these top golfers everywhere.”