Cool McGrane joins Murphy on Euro Tour

THEY say there is no greater pressure in golf than the end of season Tour Schools and Wexford club professional Damien McGrane came face to face with that reality at the Emporda course in northern Spain yesterday.

He arrived at the long 18th at the European School knowing that anything worse than a par five would knock him out of the top 35 players who would win cards on the main circuit for 2003. With the wind howling and the rain beginning to fall it was far from an easy proposition.

“I hit a drive and five iron that left me with a nice pitching wedge to the green”, he revealed. “It came up about a yard short and from there I chipped to three feet. I knew this was deadly serious. I had seen other guys falling apart on this very hole where every second player seemed to be taking six. I don’t mind telling you that I was sweating like hell but somehow I got the ball into the hole”.

It meant that 31 year-old McGrane had at last made it on to the European Tour. It was his third visit to the School while he had been to Stage 2 “three or four times”. McGrane finished in a tie for 32nd place on 11 under par which turned out to be the cut-off mark.

Meanwhile, it was plain sailing for Gary Murphy, the 30 year-old from Kilkenny, who was rock steady throughout the six days and wound up in a tie for 5th on a hugely impressive 23 under par. He picked up a cheque for 8,000. Murphy came through the School in 1999, when he also finished 5th, and he and McGrane now join Padraig Harrington, Darren Clarke, Paul McGinley, Graeme McDowell, Des Smyth and Peter Lawrie on the main circuit next year.

Swede Per Nyman led the way on 28 under, one ahead of England’s Philip Archer and two better than another Englishman, Philip Golding, with the Austrian Markus Brier fourth on 25 under.

“I am overjoyed at making it at long last,” enthused McGrane. “The pressure and stress all week was intense. I’m as glad that it’s over as much as I am at scraping through. I now have the opportunity to play the European Tour, something I’ve been trying hard for over many years.

“At times, I have played well enough to believe I could hold my own with the big boys but after so many visits to the schools you begin to wonder. The Irish Sports Council were very good to me while I was on the Challenge Tour and hopefully that won’t change now because you probably need more assistance in the first year more than any other.

“One thing is for sure, my association with Wexford Golf Club will go on. They looked after me in the bad times and I’m not going to turn my back on them now. I have two assistants and my relationship with the club is a very good one. They’ll be over the moon”.

There were two other outstanding performances, as Gary Murphy was joined on 23 under by Norwegian amateur Jan Are Larsen, who brought in a 64 on Tuesday and improved on that great score by another stroke yesterday. Simon Khan of England also came right through the pack with a couple of 66s to reach 13th place on 16 under while former Ryder Cup player Paul Broadhurst shot 67 and 66 to tie for 21st.

One of the biggest hard luck stories centred on Dubliner Stephen Browne, who missed out on the last spot by a single agonising shot in spite of yesterday’s fighting 68. At least he and Gary Cullen, who totalled six under par, will have full rights on the Challenge Tour and can also expect to pick up quite a few invitations to the lesser events on the main circuit.

Other notable failures were Stuart Cage, who lost out in a play-off for the Irish Open to Sam Torrance at Mount Juliet in 1995 and took one shot too many, while former Tour regulars Mark Mouland of Wales and English heavyweight Russell Claydon were two over the limit.