David Higgins
In Trouble Again
Concra Wood Golf Course played host to the final Sprint event of the year. I must say this course was one of my favourites that we played over the season as it offers stunning views and well shaped golf holes – a hidden gem! David played very well, pencilling in four birdies in the first seven holes, but in the end could only manage a level par round of 72 for 9th place.
I got myself into a little bit of trouble at the Naas Pro-am. Standing on the par five 18th tee we were five under par. A good score, but considering we had reached seven under after an eagle on the par five thirteenth, not good enough. David wanted to hit the driver up the 12th hole as he said it would leave an easier second shot to the green. I convinced him to play up the 18th fairway. Of course, he would hit it too close to the trees on the right which took the green out of range in two. To my relief, he holed a nasty little five footer for par. Not making a birdie there cost us outright second. The Forrest Little Pro-am followed the next day. Due to the structure of the Order of Merit system, one day Pro-am's now carried little significance to David’s overall points total. However, David wanted to play Forrest Little because he had won it the previous year. It was our seventh round of golf in as many days and we finished 12th with a level par round of 71.
Dundonald
Taking time out from the Irish scene, we travelled to Dundonald Golf Links, Scotland, for the first stage of the European Tour qualifying school beginning on September 14th. I was wary of a links venue because one is always relying on the element of luck in relation to the weather. David's argument was that being from a links course was an advantage to him. After three rounds in Dundonald, only 3 players from our side of the draw were inside the top thirty places. In my opinion, a wrong decision had been made to cancel play in round one (we had completed 14 holes) when the weather had actually improved. I remember David ripping a 3 iron from 130 yards on the 12th hole as low to the ground as I have ever seen a 3 iron go (and he can hit it low) - it was just crazy. That said, on the final day we played fourteen holes in level par to finish off round three and in the final round, we were four under with two holes to play. Four under was impressive, but a three putt bogie on the 8th hole (our 17th) and another bogie on the 9th because of a poor drive meant we would miss progressing by a mere two shots. That finish was a cruel blow. There was no time to reflect on the situation as we had to head straight to the airport. There were some happy faces and lots of sad faces in the departure lounge that night.
Arriving into Dublin on a late flight, we drove across Ireland in time to tee it up at the Connemara Pro-am the following afternoon. The season was coming to a close and the chance of winning 4,000 Order of Merit points could not be passed up. The horrible Scottish weather seemed to follow us as it rained for the majority of both rounds. We shot 75 (+3) and 73 (+1) for tied 5th position.
The Irish PGA Championship
Three days later, on we went to the Irish Championship at Seapoint Golf Club. We both knew the course, so no excuses could be made and I was pretty confident of a strong performance that week. David was hungry to emulate his father, Liam, in winning the title and with 10,000 Order of Merit Points on offer to the winner it represented a great chance to wrap-up the Race to Mount Juliet for the season. The first two rounds were underachieving 71's (-1). When I say underachieving I mean that both rounds could have easily been two to three shots better but the fact remained that they were not. Saturday is known as moving day and on a score of two under we were doing fine – we were only three shots behind. What was to follow in the third round was far from fine.
We started poorly, but hung in there to be one over with five to play. I was thinking if we could pull two birdies in the remaining holes, the day would not be all that bad. I was five shots out in my forecast as we slumped to a four over round (76). That certainly was a low point in the season. I think it was even lower than the missed cut at the Irish Open because there were little, if any, signs of greatness in that third round. We went straight to the bar at our hotel for a few beers and promised not to talk about golf for the evening. At least we achieved our goal of not discussing golf; however we failed miserably at stopping after just a few beers...
The following morning David shot 70 (-2) with a silly bogie on 17 and a missed four footer for birdie on 18. I say “David” because I certainly was no help to him during that round. I still do not know to this day how he managed that score. On reflection maybe we should have had a few drinks on the Friday night. The disappointment of Dundonald and Seapoint were hard to swallow. The final round of 70 in Seapoint meant we grabbed a share of 11th place. The PGA Region needed full attention as David Mortimer was now leading the Order of Merit with his great win at the Irish Championship. Three events were left – Fota Island, Westmanstown and the grand finale at Mount Juliet.
Fota Fantastic
Fota Island Golf Club is a superb setting and has top class facilities to match. In a way, it was good that the Fota Pro-am was only three days after Seapoint, again leaving little time for reflection. That is the one good thing about golf – there is always next week to focus on! A major asset to us in the forthcoming battle came at Fota. David encountered his uncle Ted – a seasoned golf professional himself – before the first round of the Pro-am. Ted had been lying in wait to tell David a few home truths and really got stuck into him which seemed to resonate with David. He also helped with his swing on the range which worked well – Ted was a trusted teacher that David had confidence in.
I had to remind David to be patient many times in the first round as there were a few occasions when things could have gone south but he would sign for a 71 (-1). Sure enough that patience paid off as things started to happen in the final round. The only dropped shot in the round was due to a lack of concentration on the par 3 third hole (our 12th) where David duffed a 9 iron into the water. I saw the look of despair on team captain P. J. Butler's face as he thought all was lost at that point. But a super pitch across the pond would follow to salvage a four. David hit two top quality shots in that same round that stuck in my mind - two 5 woods actually. One was fired straight at the par five 18th flag from 240 yards ending up 20 feet away. The other was hit to twelve feet on the par four 8th hole from about 215 yards from a bad lie in the rough. Both shots required accuracy as water surrounds both greens – they were good shots under pressure. We shot four under (67) and the five under total would result in a tied win with Damien Mooney who birdied the last four holes of his second round. David was back at the top of the Order of Merit again – but only just.
Westmanstown is a tricky parkland course and a level par round (71) resulted in a tied 3rd place finish. Mooney continued his fine form with another win there. Our finish had no affect on our Order of Merit point’s total – as you only count a certain number of events. It was extremely close at the top, as the Race to Mount Juliet crown was to be decided on just one round.
