McGeady relieved by Wales victory

THE celebrations have been put on ice by the Challenge Tour’s newest champion Michael McGeady, who this week returns to his homeland to compete in the Challenge of Ireland at the picturesque Glasson Golf & Country Club, Athlone on Thursday.

The man from Derry, fresh from his maiden victory at the SWALEC Wales Challenge, heads to the Midlands fully focused on climbing into the top 20 of the Challenge Tour Rankings and securing a place on The European Tour for next season. McGeady’s winner’s cheque for €22,400 catapulted him 125 places up the Challenge Tour Rankings to 34th place, but perhaps more importantly his status was upgraded from category 12 to one, meaning he is now fully exempt for the remainder of the season.

He said: “It’s a big relief for me, because my previous category didn’t guarantee me entry into every event. So it was difficult to plan my playing schedule, but now I can pick and choose the tournaments I play in.”

McGeady will tackle the Glasson Golf Hotel & Country Club’s 7,159 yards course, determined to become the event’s first home winner. Before his maiden victory on Sunday, McGeady’s previous highest Challenge Tour finish came on home soil in 2006, when he lost out by one stroke to Australia’s John Wade at the Ireland Ryder Cup Challenge at Killarney Golf & Fishing Club.

The 30 year old is aiming to go one better this time around, and so become the first back to back winner on this season’s Challenge Tour Schedule.

He said: “I’ve felt my game’s been slowly coming together for a while now. Before then I’d had a couple of decent rounds, I just hadn’t played consistently enough over the four days. I’ve always thought I was good enough to win a tournament, but now I know I am.”

The situation is even brighter for Gareth Maybin, the former amateur international from Ballyclare, who moved to 15th in the order of merit thanks to a share of third in Wales. Maybin was best Irish finisher at Glasson last year in 15th and went onto record three top ten finishes en route to 49th in the final points list.

Another Ulster man, Michael Hoey captured the Moroccan Classic earlier in the season and is 21st in the rankings with earnings of €34,578 while Gareth Shaw, a key figure in Ireland’s recent retention of the European Team Amateur Championship, made his professional debut in Wales at the weekend, finishing in a share of 34th.

McGeady (runner-up at Killarney in 2006), Maybin, Hoey and Waterville’s David Higgins are regarded as the best bets to become the first Irish winner will be supported by among others Colm Moriarty and Mark Staunton.