McGrane relieved to have made it
McGrane was home last week anxiously watching the outcome of the UBS Hong Kong and praying he would not be bumped out of the leading 60 on the Race to Dubai money list.
He was lying 56th at the start of the week and was fortunate that only two players competing in Hong Kong, including the winner, Frenchman Gregory Bourdy, went past him.
It meant McGrane being bumped back to 58th spot but fortunate to be still be inside the top-60 eligible to tee-up in this week’s $7.5m (€5m) event.
“After playing in three Volvo Masters in the last four years, it would have been a big step backwards if I didn’t qualify for s Dubai,” he said.
“So I’m happy I am here but only by the skin of my teeth and hopefully now I can sneak in a few putts and who knows what can happen.
“But I had my schedule, as I always do, and I just wasn’t going to go to Hong Kong for a week. So I was taking my chances and if I lost out then I did not play well enough all year. I just wasn’t going to start chasing tournaments at the very end of the year.
“So panicking and starting to add one more, and one more, to my schedule at the end of the year was not something that I was going to get into.”
McGrane has not competed since missing the cut earlier this month in the Singapore Open with his only practice before heading to Dubai being two nine holes at his beloved Kells course in Co. Meath.
After scraping through by €4,068, McGrane now battles for a first prize of €830,675 that would boost hopes of getting access a rich bonus pool of nearly €1m for the new European Number One.
If McGrane captures the title, it would boost his season earnings to €1.37m and that would see him finish around 12th place on the Order of Merit and the guarantee of an additional €162,000.
Aside from a second Tour win, McGrane will be targeting a top-30 Race to Dubai money list finish that would automatically qualify him for next year’s British Open at St Andrews.
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