Bullard visits benefit Browne

EVERYBODY has heard of Butch Harmon, David Leadbetter, even Hank Haney.

Famous golf coaches all. But very few know about a certain Jimmy Ballard, a man who taught Curtis Strange and Hal Sutton throughout their illustrious careers, began working with Sandy Lyle two weeks before he captured the 1987 Tournament Players Championship and ignited a whole run of tournament wins in the United States for the Scot; he also picked up with Seve Ballesteros shortly before his Open Championship triumph at Lytham in 1988.

It was Ballard who encouraged Gary Player to adopt “the walk through” technique that was so influential in his British Open victory in 1978.

Limerick’s Tim Rice teamed up with Ballard early in 2004 and was so impressed that he passed on his impressions to another aspiring Irishman. At the time, Dubliner Stephen Browne had won his European Tour card but was aware that his game needed to change if he was to cope with the demands of the really big time. He went to see Ballard and only last week returned from his fifth visit to

Florida.

“Jimmy is now 63 and doesn’t do the Tour any more, after suffering from poor health a couple of years ago,” explains Browne. “He operates out of Ocean Reef, a beautiful spot near Key Largo in the Florida Keys. He has a particular philosophy that there’s one way to play golf and that’s his way.

The changes he recommended were meaningful but adapting to them was very difficult at first because I wasn’t getting the desired results.

But I stuck with it and now I’m glad I did so. My stats, fairways hit, greens in regulation, were not good enough to survive, especially on the tougher courses on the main circuit.”

Browne, 32 next month, has taken the unusual step of travelling to the European Tour School this week even though 18th place on the Challenge Tour ensured him a card on the regular tour in 2006. However, there are several sound reasons for this unusual strategy.

“Essentially I need to improve my ranking, he says. “I came 19th of the 20 who qualify through the Challenge Tour, but the last five are inferior to the 30 cards that are handed out at the Tour School. Then there’s the prize money of something like 15,000 and as there’s nothing else at this time of year.”

This is Browne’s third visit to the Tour School. He missed out by a shot in 2003 and made it by two in 2004. He insists that he doesn’t “look upon it as an occasion to dread, rather it’s an opportunity and part of the learning curve.” The visits to Florida and Jimmy Ballard were followed by a few poor months and it gradually became apparent to Stephen that he wasn’t going to keep his card on the main circuit. So he took off for the Kazakhstan Open, an event offering a record €40,000 Challenge Tour cheque, in September and pulled off a marvellous, career-changing victory.

“It was a real blanket finish with four or five other guys,” he recalls. “I had to win because while there was €40,000 for the winner, the second prize was €16,500 and that’s a huge difference in money and ranking points. I holed some super putts on the back nine, four of them outside fifteen feet, and it was great to win. It’s what you play the game for, it’s not all about the money, but rather proving to yourself that you can win golf tournaments. Kazakhstan got me into the Challenge Tour Grand Final where I finished sixth and that in turn got me into the top 20 on the order of merit.”

Stephen Browne is quick to acknowledge the help all the aspiring young Irish golfers receive here at home, most notably from the Cuisine de France Team Ireland Golf Trust, while he himself has also benefited from the support of City Holdings (the company behind the Dream City course in Dubai to be designed by Padraig Harrington) and Citroen cars.

“The English and Scottish guys are deeply envious of us, they don’t have any support of that nature,” he says. “It’s crucial and very generous. When you have expenses of around €100,000 per annum, the bills rack up.”

Browne’s commitment is exemplified by his decision to seek a better card in San Roque when it would have been a lot easier to put his feet up back at home.