Hoey still on a high
The 32-year old has had three weeks off since denying fellow Ulstermen and the double US Open-winning pair of Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell to win the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at St Andrews.
Hoey has six events remaining over the closing eight weeks of the year with the current world number 99’s first goal to break into the top 64 in the world and qualify for February’s WGC–Accenture World Match Play Championship in Arizona.
And if his world ranking continues to improve then Hoey is hopeful of receiving an invitation to return to the hallowedfairways of Augusta for a first time since 2002 when he was last there as the then British amateur champion.
“I’m gunning firstly for that Match Play early next year and I can achieve that if I do really well next fortnight in the HSBC in Shanghai and also in Singapore the week after, I could be well inside the top 64,” he said.
“It would be nice to get to Augusta as it would be my 10-year anniversary since I played in the 2002 Masters.
“But I’ve had three of the last four weeks at home so I’m physically and mentally fresh for my remaining six events this year.”
Hoey arrived in Spain yesterday to be congratulated at nearly every turn by fellow players, caddies and officials and revealing how he’s coping with his accomplishment at the Home of Golf.
“It’s been great these past two weeks since my win to reflect on the quality of the field I beat in Scotland,” he said.
“There were 13 Major champions and 11 past winners like [Martin] Kaymer, [Pádraig] Harrington and Paul Lawrie and it wasn’t till I got back home I’d realised what I had done.”
And while Hoey’s mobile went into overload, he’s been particularly delighted to receive messages of congratulations from countrymen and Major champions Darren Clarke and McDowell.
“Everyone was genuinely pleased for me but the messages I got from Graeme and Darren were really good as they said a lot of nice stuff,” he said. “And even arriving here at Castellon today everyone has been coming up to me and shaking my hand, so that’s really nice.
“But the goal this week is to work my way into the top 64 in the world as I would love to play the WGC Match Play early next year.
But while Hoey is on a high, one compatriot was left without a job after Castellon Masters defending champion Matteo Manassero sacked his Irish caddy Ryan McGuigan. Manassero won the Malaysian Open with the Coleraine-born caddy on the bag earlier this year but after some recent poor form the world number 44 Italian has arranged for his coach and former Tour player Alberto Binaghi to fill in for the next two weeks.
“It was very, very hard for me as Ryan has been with me from the beginning and we had two wins together and some great experiences together,” said Manassero. “So this will be my first week without Ryan but sometimes you need to change as while I had a good summer of golf, the scores weren’t coming.”
However, McGuigan has not been idle and will start working with rookie Portstewart pro and victorious GB&I Walker Cup star Paul Cutler at next week’s Andalucia Masters.
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