Getting on the top rung of ladder an improbable dream

THE failure of any Irish player to win a card at the European Tour School suggests that the well that has provided this country with a steady stream of outstanding players for many years is finally running dry.

Niall Kearney, a former South of Ireland champion, came closest at the school but after a poor final day at Catalunya, had to be satisfied with a place on the Challenge Tour. While several outstanding players have come through the secondary circuit to make the grade on the highest stage of all — current US PGA champion and Race to Dubai order of merit Martin Kaymer is the classic example while our own Peter Lawrie also earned his spurs through this route — it can be a hard grind for the vast majority.

No free rooms in 5 star hotels, no first-class or business travel, no courtesy cars. Make your own way there and fend for yourself is the norm.

The problem for so many of our most promising young players is actually doing enough to acquire a decent card on the Challenge Tour. Many successful amateurs have turned professional with stars in their eyes and dreams of riches and major titles only to discover that they were short of the required standard.

Sadly, some of those never considered Plan B — in other words, they didn’t bother to serve their apprenticeship to a club professional. Had they done so, they could have stored the qualification away for the day they realised that making it on tour was a forlorn hope.

Still, it is perfectly understandable that they should dream their dreams as they cast their eye over the monetary rewards on offer on the major tours.

However, only the very gifted such as Rory McIlroy take to it like the proverbial duck to water. For most, an ability to stick at it just like Peter Lawrie did is an absolute must. The Dubliner, now 36, defeated the formidable Garth McGimpsey in the final of the 1996 Irish Close Championship at Royal Co Down before turning professional a year later.

A quietly spoken but extremely bright individual, who had completed a commerce course while on scholarship at UCD, Peter appreciated he didn’t possess the natural golfing skills of, say, a Darren Clarke or a McIlroy, and never thought it was going to be easy.

He played the mini tours in Florida, spent a year on the Asian Tour and three on the Challenge Tour before getting his big break in 2002 when he won the Challenge Tour Grand Final to finish 4th in the rankings.

Even better was to follow in ‘03 when he displayed remarkable consistency in becoming the first Irishman to capture the prestigious Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year award.

His stroke average was a very creditable 69.09 and his winnings of €422,817 would have amounted to a small fortune at the time. In the intervening years, Lawrie has just one tournament success to his name — the 2008 Spanish Open — but his total official earnings amount to a cool €4,141, 275, including more than €845,000 in the season just ended.

Even those riches pale into comparison with the sums earned by numerous other Irishmen in recent years, players like Pádraig Harrington, Darren Clarke, Paul McGinley, Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell, to name but five.

And yet, on the flipside to that argument; there are countless instances of fine golfers who are either struggling to make a living or have disappeared from the golfing scene altogether.

Athlone’s Colm Moriarty continues to battle away on the Challenge Tour without quite managing to make the main circuit. Niall Kearney will hope to go one better while noting that a whole host of fellow Irishmen who turned pro with plaudits ringing in their ears like Brian McElhinney, a winner of the British Amateur Championship; his fellow Donegal man Michael McGeady and Jonathan Caldwell and Gareth Shaw from Ulster are restricted to little more than the odd appearance on the Challenge Tour.

Gary Murphy, a member of the European Tour since 2003, has lost his card and Waterville’s David Higgins, a hugely impressive winner of the 2010 Lexus Race to Mount Juliet order of merit on the PGA Irish Region, hasn’t been able to establish himself as his talent appeared to warrant. Raymond Burns, arguably as talented as any, gave up on the tour and is now a club pro.

Irish golf fans have been spoiled for many years by the exploits of Harrington, McDowell and the rest. However, the trials and tribulations of the many also mentioned in this piece only serve to underline just how well they have done to have achieved so much in this most competitive of sporting arenas.