Selfridge kisses his tour dream goodbye
But Ulsterman wishes Team Ireland had been more of a team, writes Brian Keogh
IRELAND’S Gavin Moynihan, Cormac Sharvin and Robin Dawson will discover their European Tour fate in the final round of the Qualifying School today. But whatever the future holds for them, the dream is over for one of the most successful Irish amateurs of the past decade – Chris Selfridge.
The 26-year old from Moyola Park Golf Club, a scenic parkland just five miles from the shores of Lough Neagh at Castledawson, appeared to have all the ingredients required to make it on tour.
A graduate of the US college system, the former University of Toledo star won the East of Ireland and the Irish Close titles in 2012, before claiming back to back North of Ireland wins in 2013 and 2014 – four “majors” in just over two years.
He had two successful seasons on the Challenge Tour in 2015 and 2016, finishing both campaigns in the upper echelons of the rankings with a sub-par scoring average.
But after developing chronic tendinitis in his right elbow, he’s been forced to call it a day, bringing the tenuous nature of professional sport into stark focus.
“I simply can’t practice,” Selfridge said. “I could play on tour no problem but when you can’t put the reps in on the long game, there’s nothing you can do.
“I just can’t hit golf balls for a sustained period, I’ve tried everything but it was just a continuous cycle.”
Real world problems are now his concern and he’s started working in marketing for Yell, the old yellow pages, hoping to some day return to playing club golf with Moyola Park.
“I can’t see myself teeing it up in a North or an East again, but I can see myself playing Senior Cup in a few years time,” he said. “My competitive golf days are definitely over.”
He’s yet another name on a long list of Irish amateurs to chase the dream and come up short but while he can’t put his finger on exactly why it’s been so difficult for our elite amateurs to get a foothold on tour in the ultimate numbers game, he believes that some tweaking of the Team Ireland golf grants scheme might work well.
There has been much debate about the structuring of the Team Ireland, which has given our emerging professional golfers Sport Ireland grants of more than €3.6 million over the past 19 years not to mention a string of Challenge Tour invitations.
Selfridge was grateful to receive a €10,000 grant in 2016 and an additional €14,000 in 2017 but feels more good advice and off course camaraderie is needed. Putting the word “team” back into Team Ireland, he feels, might help.
“One thing I found difficult,” he said, “and maybe it’s because I’d been away in America and didn’t know the other Irish boys as well, but the Irish lads never seemed keen to rent houses together and just trying to organise to go out
together for dinner in the evening was always difficult.
“No one wanted to do it and I can understand that there are weeks when you might have your girlfriend with you and want to do your own thing. But the Scottish boys always seemed to be in a group of eight.
“It’s little things like that. Mentally you need that in the evenings. I enjoyed last year because I travelled with Michael Hoey and we’d have dinner every night and I’d meet the characters that he knew, and it was fun. Those things make the difference.
“There was little of a team environment, which I missed after my college days in Toledo. There are 100 things like that you could go through.”
Summing up, he hit the nail on the head in the big bad world of professional golf – the scorecard settles all disputes.
“At the end of the day, if you’re good enough, you’re good enough,” he said. “It’s a simple as that.”