Irish hopes pinned on Moriarty

THIRTY seven Irishmen, including six amateurs, feature in the €130,000 Ireland Ryder Cup Challenge teeing off over the Mahony’s Point course at Killarney this morning.

The event was first staged over the nearby Lackabane course 12 months ago and was won by the Scot Marc Warren who went on to top the order of merit at the end of the season.

The move to Mahony’s Point should prove a great attraction for the visitors coming from almost every country on the golfing globe and they are sure to love the final six holes and especially the majestic par three 18th.

The Irish involved this week will be hoping for better fortune than has greeted their efforts so far. 2004 British Amateur champion Brian McElhinney will be hoping for a repeat of the form that saw him share 12th place in last week’s event in Wales. It was his first cheque as a professional.

Where experience is concerned, however, Athlone’s Colm Moriarty is probably the best hope of a big home performance. For a man who has missed eight out of 12 cuts and currently lies 198th in the rankings, he is quite confident.

Much of his belief stems from his five-month old partnership with coach Pete Cowen, who is helping the Athlone 27-year-old redefine his swing to give him the necessary tools to compete alongside his most famous pupils Darren Clarke, Lee Westwood and Henrik Stenson.

“I want to be competing in Majors and winning events and trying to play in Ryder Cups,” said Moriarty, whose best performance of the year came at his biggest event of the season — the Nissan Irish Open, where he finished 19th and collected €24,273, his biggest cheque of the year.

“I think you have to set your goals that high if you are going to believe that you can do it.”