Gary Hurley's diary: I'm disappointed more than anything else

I was pretty gutted after the first round and when I was three over after my front nine yesterday, I accepted I wasn’t going to make the cut. Everything would have had to go my way on the back nine to scrape in.

When it’s really, really windy and it starts to pelt down rain on undulating greens, it’s hard to solider on. I’ll sit down, analyse it and try to get some positives from it over the weekend. The way I feel now, I’m disappointed more than anything else. It’s always nice to play well when you’ve home support following you.

It can be very lonely at times when you’re away by yourself and you’re not playing great. At least this week there’s people around me, friends and family, that care about me. If I don’t play great, it’s not going to change who I am to them.

I struggled with my game again yesterday. The shot I visualise wasn’t happening most of the time. Too many shots weren’t good enough and it just fed down through my whole game. I don’t mind shooting bad scores so long as I can hit my targets. It’s when I go out and struggle, it really disheartens me because you work so hard in the lead up.

At least as golfers we have tournaments every week. Olympic athletes train four years for the Games and they might get injured the week before. That’s their training down the drain, even the boxers this year they seemed to get hard done by. I know there will be better days ahead for me.

It’s been a decent first year although I’m disappointed with where I am at the moment. I wanted to make the top 45 on Challenge Tour, which there is still a chance to do.

Professional golf is pretty much what I expected but I’m very surprised how bunched the leaderboards are. There are so many guys up there, there are so many putts being holed.

There was one tournament where someone shot 17 under for four rounds and they finished outside the top 10. I played that course and it wasn’t that easy.

You have to get used to fending for yourself in this game. I relate golf to tennis. You’ve got time to think about what you’re going to do before you serve. You’re thinking before shots. The only thing we don’t get in golf is a second serve. Sometimes I wish we did!

I’m going to take a week off now to relax, go home for a few days, see my family and my dog and chill out. The dog always puts a smile on my face. He’s a Scottish Terrier, named Scot. He’s a cool little dude.

Every time I come home he gets excited to see me and I always look forward to that. He doesn’t care what happens on the golf course.

The life of a dog is interesting because a dog is only part of your life, you’re his whole life. It puts things into perspective. You understand why they get so upset when you go away. There are bigger problems in the world than missing the cut at Mount Wolseley.

* Team Ireland’s Gary Hurley (23) from West Waterford GC is in his first season as a professional golfer and is supported by Sport Ireland through the Confederation of Golf in Ireland.