Slow burner Conor ready to catch fire
O’Rourke looks to continue his steady rise ahead of pro debut
RORY McIlroy was just 18. Pádraig Harrington and Paul McGinley were relatively old at 24.
There’s no ideal time to turn professional, but having turned 26 just a month ago, Naas Conor O’Rourke is hoping that his gradual rise up the pecking order in golf’s world order will continue when he makes his pro debut in the Irish Challenge at Mount Wolseley today.
While some players burst onto the scene in spectacular fashion, O’Rourke’s trajectory has been a gradual upward curve from obscurity just four years ago to the fringes of Walker Cup selection.
What happens next is anyone’s guess but having been selected as first reserve for last weekend’s Walker Cup in Los Angeles and delayed his decision to turn professional until this week, O’Rourke is excited to see just how far he can go.
To come from obscurity at the end of 2013 to be rated one of the top dozen amateurs from Britain or Ireland just last week is a major achievement.
It took a lot of diligent work under the guidance of Naas Golf Club professional Gavin Lunny to get to this point. And that’s why he has no plans to change his approach now, even if he is playing for his livelihood.
“I probably only started to make up my mind that I wanted to be a pro three years ago when I started to really work hard on my game,” O’Rourke explained.
“Before that, I was playing football and hurling. But over the last two or three years, it has been decent steady progress, and I have gone from being on the fringes of the Leinster panel to getting to the fringes of the Walker Cup team.
“So while it was disappointing not to make the Walker Cup, it’s been a nice little rise, and it has put me in a pretty decent place. If I can continue to trend in the right direction, that would be ideal.”
The list of promising Irish amateurs who have taken the plunge into the shark-infested waters of the professional ranks and disappeared almost without trace is growing yearly.
But O’Rourke’s work ethic will stand to him as he tries to stay af loat.
He will tee it up in the First Stage of the European Tour Qualifying School at Frilford Heath in leafy Oxfordshire from October 3-6 surrounded by a wide range of players he knows well, from Irish amateur team mates Stuart Grehan and Colin Fairweather to former Irish Walker Cup players Niall Kearney and Brian McElhinney.
He has no idea what the future holds but having watched the progress of the five Irishmen who played in the Walker Cup in 2015, he knows he will have to do it his way.
“I look at other guys who turned pro, and it took them a little longer to find their feet,” he said of Paul Dunne, Jack Hume, Gavin Moynihan, Gary Hurley and Cormac Sharvin. “So I will learn from how they went about it and then just try to find my own way.”
Fellow Naas man Hume has not played since the Alfred Dunhill Championship in South Africa last December and opted to extend his break recently by deciding not to enter the Qualifying School.
Hurley and Sharvin are still waiting to breakthrough on the Challenge Tour, but after seeing Moynihan take a huge step forward this year and watched Dunne consolidate his European Tour status, O’Rourke knows it’s not an impossible dream.
“Seeing Gavin find his feet this year gives me confidence,” he said. “And I am sure Gary and Cormac aren’t too far behind. And Paul has been incredible. It shows me it is achievable.”
O’Rourke has proved he’s a fast learner and a man prepared to listen to sound advice.
After breaking into the Leinster team in 2014, he enjoyed an impressive, wire-to-wire win in the St Andrews Links Trophy at the Home of Golf last year.
He made his international debut later that season, representing Ireland in the European Amateur Team Championships and on the winning Home International side before rounding off the year by winning the Nassau Invitational in New York.
Having toyed with the idea of turning professional last year, O’Rourke is happy he waited 12 months to make the move, and while he didn’t make the Walker Cup team, he believes he’s a far better player now.
“I really enjoyed the whole year,” he said. “I was only loosely in the mix for the Walker Cup at the start but from the middle part of the year, I knew I was being watched and being under pressure to perform was actually very enjoyable.
“I was more in the limelight after the European Amateur at Walton Heath, then I started to perform a little better, and I had a really strong finish to the year.
“I played every hole with a selector keeping an eye on me. It was a different experience, and I enjoyed it.”
Professional golf is a whole new ball game, and O’Rourke is fortunate that Naas are holding a fundraising tournament for him on September 29.
“It’s just a question of moving on now and trying my best in Mount Wolseley and trying to push on for the next while,” he said.
“Naas Golf Club has given me fantastic support and the timesheet is full for September 29, so that will take a little of the financial pressure of me starting out.
“I have no idea yet where I will be playing my golf. It will depend on what happens at Q-School so all I can do is prepare as well as I can.
“But I would hope that I would be
eligible for some support from Team Ireland Golf and then go and play wherever I can.
“I just glad I waited the extra year, I got to travel the world with the Irish team and thanks to that I feel a lot more prepared than I did last year.”
O’Rourke has come a long way since he first partnered Robbie Cannon in the Interpros in 2014 with the improvement in his mental game the key to his success.
His final amateur tournament before he helped Ireland win a fourth successive Home Internationals was the South of Ireland Championship. And while he lost in the final to James Sugrue, he was pleased to see his consistency rewarded with another big week.
“Gavin Lunny has been a major part of what I have been doing,” he said of his coach and mentor. “Technically he has always been there to keep an eye on my swing and I feel my mental game and my approach to events has come on an awful lot compared to a few years ago.
“I didn’t feel out of my depth or that the other players were much better than me,” he said. “I’m excited to get going and see what I can do.”