MENTAL TEST THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE AS GREHAN FLIES NEST
Tullamore talent embarks on his pro journey full of optimism. By
IT’S been a year to forget for Stuart Grehan so far but armed with his little black book, some tips from the great Des Smyth and enough talent to rub shoulders with the best of them, the Tullamore man embarked on his professional dream this week believing a happy ending is in sight.
Fracturing his arm in a casual game of football-tennis with pals at Maynooth University in May all but ended his hopes of making the Walker Cup team.
His injury didn’t just leave him in excruciating pain, it also caused him to miss the heart of the season.
And when he came back, he felt under such pressure to perform and was overtaken by so many in-form players that he failed to get the call up to take on the Americans at Los Angeles Country Club in September.
It was a blow to the 24-year old, who was considered a virtual certainty to make the Great Britain and Ireland team earlier this year.
After all, he made his professional bow this week at the First Qualifying Stage of the Q-School at Frilford Heath — and will know his immediate fate after today’s final round — having left the amateur game as the thirdhighest ranked player from GB&I at world No 38.
Having watched several of his peers taken the plunge — Walker Cup players Alfie Plant, Connor Syme, David Boote, Scott Gregory, Jack Singh Brar and Jack Davidson and his former Ireland teammate, Conor O’Rourke, he felt the time was right to take the plunge.
“I thought I am just going to go for it now,” he said of the pro game. “I can’t see myself doing anything else.”
Bar playing in a Walker Cup, Grehan has achieved almost all his amateur goals, winning the East of Ireland and South of Ireland titles as well as the Home Internationals and this year’s prestigious Mullingar Scratch Trophy.
A Palmer Cup player, he also teamed up with Jack Hume and Paul McBride to help Ireland win a first-ever bronze medal in last year’s World Amateur Team Championship in Mexico.
But he also knows by the way he reacted to his unfortunate arm injury this summer, that he needs to work harder on his mental game to make the step up in class in the professional.
“I put too much pressure on myself,” he confessed. “Sometimes I can let it get to me a little bit too quickly, and I am sure everyone who plays golf can get that way.
“You have to learn to deal with that under pressure when you are competing. So I’ve started working with somebody on my mental game and I am enjoying it. It’s eye-opening for me.”
Hitting the golf ball has never been a problem for Grehan, who was encouraged to take up the game by his father John at the ripe old age of 14 and quickly discovered he had a special talent.
Runner-up to Dermot McElroy in the Irish Boys Championship at 17, he won the Irish Youths two years later before claiming both the East and the South in 2015.
He was suddenly a top international and he owes much of his success to the Paddy Harrington Golf Scholarship programme at Maynooth University.
Before going there, he spent the 2012-13 season at Eastern Michigan University in the southwestern suburbs of Detroit, winning once and racking up two seconds and three top-five finishes before the biting winter cold took its toll and he pined for home and year-round golf via the GUI’s High Performance programme.
“America was a great experience, and I enjoyed it, but it was the weather more than anything that put me off,” he said.
“It was bad for three or four months a year and I will never forget it was minus 25 one day I was going to class. Three months was too much for me, but I still keep in touch with my college coach.”
Maynooth, coupled with the Irish international team’s worldwide schedule, was the perfect learning environment for Grehan, who completed a three-year degree in Entrepreneurship.
But he must now learn how to compete for his living and having seen Paul Dunne’s meteoric rise and many of his peers begin their careers well, he’s more than optimistic.
“Even looking at guys who I played amateur golf with this year — Connor Syme finishing 12th in Portugal [two weeks ago] in a pretty good field and obviously Paul Dunne’s fantastic success — that gives me confidence that if I work hard, I can do well,” he said.
He’s hopeful that no matter how he does at Q-School, he will get between seven and nine Challenge Tour starts next year through Team
Ireland Golf.
Naturally, he picked the brains of his peers during his recent appearance as an amateur in the Irish Challenge at Mount Wolseley, where he missed the cut by a shot.
But his most important chat was with Team Ireland Golf leader, Smyth, who has seen it all in a 40-year career replete with tournament wins and Ryder Cup experiences.
“I’ve written them down in my little book,” he said of Smyth’s words of wisdom. “I’ve had it for two-and-a-half years and noted down all the things that help me.
“He told me to try and play as much competitive golf as I can and stay sharp, playing whatever it might be.”
His dream is to compete in majors and even win one, but for now, he’s prepared to continue his golfing education with his black book tucked in his back pocket and a world of hope in his heart.