Winning Streak
I had earned my keep in Slieve Russell so I decided to take the next weekend off to concentrate on my own golf game. David would finish in 7th position with a two round total of +6 at the fine Carne Golf Links. The following week, I was back on the bag to caddy in my native Cork. When we went to hit balls before the Monkstown Pro-am, I was amazed to learn that David had altered his simple swing thought from Slieve Russell. It was at this moment that I knew my role as coach was over and David needed the guidance of a trusted teacher. Nevertheless, a round of 67 (-3) would result in a tied win with John McHenry in Monkstown. David hit the ball nicely that day and hung in there to birdie two of his last three holes. The following day – the Wexford Pro-am involved us getting off to a horrible start, scoring six birdies in seven holes and finishing with two bogies in the last four. It all added up to a round of 68 (-3) and to another tied win, this time with John Dwyer.
St Andrews and Adare
Both David and I concluded that it was not feasible for me to travel up to the Nairn & Portnoo Pro-am (where David finished 7th) and then over to the Open Championship qualifier in Scotland. I should have gone because David shot 66 in the first round and led The Open qualifying. In round two, things were not going his way early on and he began to lose patience – attacking pins when he shouldn't. I am a great believer of being patient on the golf course and in the sport of golf. David would miss qualifying for the 150th Open at St. Andrews by just two shots – a shame.
The J.P. McManus Pro-am in Adare on July 5th and 6th was a great event with huge crowds. It was difficult to believe how fast the years had gone by since we competed in the last McManus Pro-am in 2005. Playing 9 holes practise with Christy O’ Connor Jnr. and Des Smyth along with playing in the tournament itself with actor Aidan Quinn was good fun. Adare was playing tough that first day as I think one under was the best score. David made 15 pars, 2 bogies and a double. I must admit, I was totally at fault for the double bogie because I gave him the wrong yardage on the par three 16th – he hit it straight over the flag, over the green and into an impossible spot… Yes, it happens but it was not good enough and it was a bad error on my behalf. The next day David played nice stuff making a few birdies and, all in all, an enjoyable three days was had in Adare.
The Derry Pro-am
My error on the 16th in Adare - I like to think, it was as a result of all the beer and wine that passed through my lips while up there - may have been the reason why I was not on the bag for The Island Pro-am (3rd) and the Dundrum House Pro-am (2nd) – but I can’t remember. July 16th at the three day City of Derry Pro-am was my next event out. Those were a good ball-striking three days. The putts dropped on days one and two resulting in rounds of 68 (-3) and 64 (-7) – we led by two shots from Damien McGrane. In the final round, I remember David hitting a beautiful, towering 7 iron up the hill on the 10th hole. We both thought it was very close to the flag but when we went up we found the ball buried in an impossible lie just off the green – that shot summed up the day. Even though David hit the ball great it just was not meant to be. McGrane fired a 64 in the final round to David’s 70 (-1) to win by four. I guess McGrane was getting his own back on David for the win at Slieve Russell. Even though the win had eluded us, David was still happy going to the presentation that evening because he knew he had struck a lot of quality shots. Player and caddy had worked well for the week and another 4,000 Order of Merit points had been picked up.
Mr. Consistency
We teed off early at the Carlow Sprint event and definitely got the wrong end of the draw as it was a really murky morning in Carlow. David missed a short birdie putt on the par three 17th and then hit a terrible drive down the 18th hole. We were very lucky to find the ball as it was buried in the heavy rough. I came up with a master plan of hitting the next shot down the driving range (which was not out of bounds). A hard earned par five would result, giving us a level par round to finish 5th. From his first seventeen events on the 2010 Irish Region, David had compiled twelve top five and fifteen top eight finishes – he had been Mr. Consistency and was well in control of the Race to Mount Juliet (Order of Merit).
We made the long trip from the south to Donegal for the Ballyliffin Pro-am. A great links venue, but nothing much happened in either round of 73 (+1) as we ended up in 9th place. If I am honest, the best part of those few days was going to dinner each night with David's Pro-am team of Bill Connolly, Vincent Meade and Billy “The King” Fanning. The result did not matter there so much as we were off to the Irish Open in Killarney the following week.
The Irish Open
We did plenty of practise on Killeen over the previous months. You could say that we both knew every blade of grass there which gave rise to me believing that we could put in a decent performance in Killarney. There was a European Tour Pro-am played at the Lackabane course on the Monday before the Irish Open. We were five under par through twelve holes that day, but ended up slipping back to one under. David got greedy on the par five 7th (our 14th hole) and it cost us dearly. Not to worry though, it was a lesson learned as we were moving onto bigger and better things. Unfortunately, bigger and better things did not materialise that week.
