INSIDE GOLF: Fitzgerald following his Tour dreams

Emigration is a topic so often tinged with sadness and regret but from sunny San Diego, California, comes news of an Irishman turning adversity into the hope of fulfilling a lifelong dream.

Andrew Fitzgerald, 35, took voluntary redundancy from Heineken in Cork, turned up trumps in the US green card lottery and last October moved with his wife, Jane, to California and found a job with a local drinks distributor.

As all this was going on, the four-time All Ireland medal winner with Monkstown got his handicap down from 4 to 2 in order to play PGA Tour Pre-Qualifiers that take place every week ahead of each tournament.