CAOLAN CALLING THE SHOTS
Rafferty leading the charge for Walker Cup spots after a stellar season for Irish amateurs
IRELAND had just one player on the 2017 Walker Cup team but there are high hopes that as many as four Irishmen could pull on the Great Britain and Ireland jersey at Royal Liverpool Golf Club from September 7-8.
Nearly four years have passed since Gavin Moynihan, Paul Dunne, Gary Hurley, Cormac Sharvin and Jack Hume played on the winning side at Royal Lytham & St Annes.
But while a quintet of representatives looks unlikely this year, the likes of Dundalk’s Caolan Rafferty, Kinsale’s John Murphy, Portmarnock’s Conor Purcell, and Kilkenny’s Mark Power are just four potential candidates with a real chance of making it.
They are not the only ones, however, as Irish amateur golfers continue to perform strongly on the international stage.
Ireland’s top 10 players in the World Amateur Golf Ranking are Rafferty, Douglas’ Peter O’Keeffe, Castle’s Alex Gleeson, Purcell, Hermitage’s Rowan Lester, Power, Murphy, Galway’s Ronan Mullarney, Massereene’s Tiarnan McLarnon and Mallow’s James Sugrue.
Add to that group the Irish Close champion Robbie Cannon, runner-up Eoin Leonard and former Irish Amateur Open and East of Ireland champion Colm Campbell, who is recovering from hand surgery after missing all of 2018, and there’s every reason to believe that a posse of Irishmen can challenge for spots in the initial squad.
While Lester suffered wrist injury before Christmas and still has work to do to get back to full fitness, a big summer could see him challenge too.
But Rafferty, the man who beat Lester in last year’s South of Ireland final, has high hopes of making the step up in class.
The Dundalk stalwart (26) has made huge strides over the past three years and at 49th in the world, he’s Ireland’s top-ranked player.
After winning his maiden senior championship in sudden-death at Lahinch and helping Dundalk win its first senior club pennant last year, he was disappointed not to make the Irish team for the Eisenhower Trophy.
“Two out of three wasn’t bad and even the Eisenhower was close in that I was probably the fourth man of a three-man team,” Rafferty said of 2018.
“I think at one stage I had five, maybe six trophies, in the house, all at the one time. It was a really good spell from say September of 2017 to now. I couldn’t really complain.
“I won in Colombia last September and that boosted my confidence. Getting the South took a weight off my shoulders and hopefully I can add to it now because that’s the next objective.”
Rafferty is guaranteed in the US Amateur Championship at Pinehurst in August if he remains in the world’s top 50.
And he admits that making the Walker Cup team would be a huge honour and that he was invited by captain Craig Watson and selectors Nigel Edwards and Andy Ingram to take part in an informal, 10-man practice session at Hoylake before Christmas bodes well for his chances.
“The clubhouse, everything about it, is amazing,” he said of Hoylake. “To be part of a Walker Cup team there would be special and would be something that I would really enjoy.
“The last thing I am going to be worrying about is trying to make the team. If I play good golf that will all sort itself out.”
He believes that his poor showings in the St Andrews Trophy and the British Amateur during the summer probably cost him his place on the Eisenhower Team.
Currently studying for a degree in business at Maynooth University through the Paddy Harrington Scholarship scheme, he’s determined to be more consistent in 2019 and believes he’s mentally stronger than ever.
“I think I did show last year that I have a bit more character to me now and that I can dig deep and really push whereas a couple of years ago I probably didn’t have it in me,” he said
“The College golf is definitely helping. I wouldn’t be a great practiser, I’d rather play holes, but this year I got myself into a bit of a routine and I went down two or three nights a week.
“I am balancing it better. I have a schedule to my week now.”