Five Irish were part of the victorious team last weekend and from what I've heard four of them are cashing in their Golfing Union of Ireland vouchers for a shot at the big time.
Gavin Moynihan got stuck in straight away this week in weak Field in Italy at The Italian Open. It wasn't the start he would have dreamed of as a Pro finishing 150th out of a field of 155. Teeing up on Thursday, his 21st Birthday in a event containing only 12 of the Top 100 players in the world he must have felt pretty good about his chances of earning his first cheque. Instead he now heads to tour school pre qualifier in Portugal with his confidence rattled.
Another star of the Walker Cup Gary Hurley was straight into action also in Scotland, not as glamorous an event as the Italian Open but the golfing graveyard that is First Stage Qualifying for Tour School. Four rounds of gruelling pressure hoping to make it into the top 20 spots to get your ticket into the next stage. After three rounds it wasn't looking great for young Hurley but a wonderful 67 in the final round got him his ticket. So he'll head to second stage, with Moynihan in first stage next week, you'd have to think Hurley will be feeling the better of the two after the finish today.
I'm looking forward to following their progress and hopefully they get their cards because we really are screaming out for Irish Golfers on tour, apart from our superstars we don't really have many journeymen grinding week in week out.
Seeing the amount of players on both the American and GB&I teams that were turning pro I decided to go back over the last some of the teams to see how many who have made the step up actually make a living from it. The stats are scary. And if history is anything to go by we will be lucky to see three max four of the team from last week on a regular basis on Tour.
Looking at the 1995 team, lots of marquee names i,e Tiger & Padraig stand out but one I remember clearly was Gordon Sherry, standing at 6ft 8in he was obviously memorable for his features but his golf was the talk of Europe. He was runner up in the British Amateur in '94 then went onto win it the following Year, giving him the invite to The Open in St Andrews.
Leading up to The Open he finished fourth in The Scottish Open, had a hole in one in Practice in St Andrews while playing with The Great Jack Nicklaus & Tom Watson, he would then go onto get the silver medal for finishing low Amateur. After this whirlwind week he would then help GB&I beat the Americans also beating a young Tiger in the Saturday Singles.
As an Amateur you couldn't get a better cv before going into the paid ranks. But after a lot of missed cuts and some health issues he never reached the heights, pardon the pun, he was destined for.
In 1997 Richie Coughlan & Keith Nolan were part of a team who got what could only be described as a hiding from Americia.
Turning pro straight away Coughlan done something never done before and won his card both sides of the Atlantic. He would choose his PGA Card as he played college golf over there but with only one top ten finish he only managed to stay on the fringes of the tour for a few years, he is now an instructor in San Antonio.
Nolan also won his PGA tour card that year and having won back to back Irish Amateurs he also had high hopes, but with only one top 25 finish he didn't last too long inside the ropes as player, he's now caddying for double major winner Lee Janzen on the Seniors Tour.
1999 had some serious players involved and ones we are still watching on tour now:
Jonathon Byrd
David Gossett
Matt Kuchar
Byrce Molder
Paul Casey
Luke Donald
Simon Dyson
Graeme Storm
Nearly half of the players on show.
2001 had major winners G Mac and Lucas Glover,
I could on through all the teams but I suppose what I'm getting at is, just because your world number 1 amateur ( like Jamie Moul was in 2007 ) when playing the Walker Cup it doesn't mean your automatically going to flying on private jets and making millions.
These guys on Tour are so good, they're sharks and work so hard at their game. So when you tee it up in a European tour event it makes no difference if you won maximum points for GB & I or your NCAA champion when you put the peg in the ground all the guy next to you wants to do is bet you.
Holing putts to make cuts to cover your expenses for the week is a lot harder than holing a putt to make the cut in the British Amateur.
In an ideal world all four Irish will get there cards and we will be cheering for them for the next twenty years, but if I was a gambling man I'd guess we'll be lucky to see one maybe two still playing big time tournament golf in the years to come.
