‘We are not producing as many top level golfers as we should’
PAUL McGINLEY INTERVIEW
‘Our guys are not making the step up. They need to be encouraged’ ‘So much of it boils down to realistic expectations’
THE absence of home rule at the European Challenge Tour event in Mount Wolseley on All-Ireland football final weekend didn’t escape the attention of Paul McGinley.
Europe’s winning Ryder Cup captain of 2014 keeps a close eye on how the Irish are faring on all tours.
There were 19 aspiring European Tour professionals in Tullow and conditions appeared ripe for a robust challenge in familiar blustery weather.
Instead, the Irish were blown away. Four survived the cut and only Ruaidhri McGee (€2,700) made any meaningful dough.
With three events before the Grand Final in Muscat, there isn’t an Irish golfer inside the top 15 on the Road To Oman table who will graduate to the European Tour proper in 2018.
Gavin Moynihan is clinging to a top 30 place, while behind him the season is all but over for Michael Hoey, Kevin Phelan and Gary Hurley, among others. Hoey is a five-time winner on the main Tour, including the 2011 Dunhill Links when he held off Rory McIlroy down the stretch, and pocketed a cheque for almost €600,000.
Now 38, Hoey has won less than €24k in 13 events on the Challenge Tour this year, barely enough to cover expenses.
As an amateur, Phelan figured on the leaderboard at the 2013 US Open in Merion where he finished a creditable 62nd behind Justin Rose. At 22, he seemed certain to kick on, only he stalled.
This year, Phelan has earned a paltry €5,200 from 16 events.
Fellow Waterford native Hurley was hailed as a sure thing for the pro ranks when he shot 72, 66 at Fota Island in the first two rounds of the 2014 Irish Open as an amateur.
Yet, this year, Hurley has won a little over €7,000 from 12 events.
The state of play frustrates McGinley, for the Dubliner wants nothing more than a greater Irish influence on Tour. McGinley’s active time has come and gone after 25 years on Tour, while Darren Clarke will join him on the seniors’ circuit next August. That will leave just Rory McIlroy, Shane Lowry, Graeme McDowell, Pádraig Harrington and Paul Dunne as the Irish card-holders on the European Tour, with Seamus Power fighting to keep his card on the PGA Tour. As the fledgling Irish professionals struggle, McGinley has concerns over the flight path mapped out for them. He is adamant too many aspiring Irish pros are wasting their time chasing world ranking points on the amateur circuit and believes they would be better at home competing in the major provincial championships and Scratch Cup circuit.
McGinley’s win in the South of Ireland at Lahinch in 1991 secured his Walker Cup selection at Portmarnock that year, after which he turned professional and didn’t look back.
Harrington, Clarke, McDowell and McIlroy also blazed a trail at home in the amateur ranks, which equipped them to cope with the demands of the pro scene when they made the jump, reckons McGinley.
‘We’re not producing as many (successful professionals) as we would like; they’re not making the step up,’ he observed.
‘In my view, and I share this with Pádraig (Harrington), the guys would be better off winning the Carlow Scratch Cup than coming 12th in the Brabazon Trophy or fifth in the West of England.
‘Competing in the major championships here gives you a competitive edge and winning mentality.
‘It helped me and Pádraig in our careers and I believe today’s players can benefit from going down that road rather than flying off to chase world ranking points,’ added McGinley.
‘If you want to improve, you will learn a lot more about closing the deal in the East of Ireland than finishing down the field in an event with more points on offer.’
Two years ago, five Irish players figured in a winning Walker Cup team. Of those, only Dunne has kicked on.
This month, Paul McBride was the lone Irish representative in a team walloped by the US.
McGinley, who is reluctant to be overly critical, is available to take a call from any of the rookies coming through, as is Des Smyth, whose role with Team Ireland is to advise and support young pros.
‘What they’re getting now probably is sense of disillusionment and when fellahs are not having the career trajectory they hoped, they are beating themselves up,’ said McGinley.
‘What they need now is an arm on the shoulder. Guys like Gary Hurley, who’s treading water and seeing his buddy Paul Dunne establishing himself, he’s got to be quite low.
‘You need to encourage him, say “Go up to Baltray, play a round with Des, get it out of your system”. It’s not technical advice, these guys can all play,’ insisted McGinley.
‘So much of it boils down to having realistic expectations and not getting disillusioned if things are not going well.
‘Mental strength is not hitting a two iron off a downhill lie over water to the 18th green to win by a shot,’ he added.
‘No, it’s being able to have a balanced view when you’ve just missed the cut on the Challenge Tour by a shot for the third week in a low and you’re languishing 50th in the Order of Merit, and realising “I don’t need to fire my coach or my caddy, I’m on the right trajectory, things haven’t happened for me, I’ve got to work harder. I’ve got to keep doing it.”
‘That’s mental strength. Look at Pádraig, it’s what he had all his career,’ he added.
‘Have you ever seen Pádraig down about his golf? Never.’