Always felt QS was Toughest Spot

The next six days of Final Qualifying at European Tour School at the PGA Catalunya is not a place a professional golfer wants to be as it has many of the negative connotations that players spend time staying away from. However given the choice of not being there - or looking on from a distance wishing you were - it is clear which option is preferable. 

For Simon Thornton that will definitely be the case as he tries to hang on the privileges he worked so hard to get in Catalunya last December. But for others this week will be not be easy. 

None more so than Gary Murphy who faces next season living off invites to the main tour perhaps, the odd Challenge Tour events and or the Irish Region PGA in order to keep his game up to scratch. But based on my personal experience that is easier said than done and the only advice is that Gary needs to be careful that it is not the start of a decline that makes the leap back to the European Tour almost impossible. At 38 years of age it will become more difficult – physically - to compete at Q School as the more athletic younger golfers stream into the game. 

For Gareth Shaw the switch to the professional code in 2008 has lost momentum having failed to progress from Stage 2 this year and the breakthrough is now deferred for another year. 

For fellow Northern Ireland player, Jonathan Caldwell, a member of the 2007 GB&I Walker Cup team at Royal County Down there is also an uncertain outlook given he also missed out on a place at the Final Stage. Having seen those team mates from three years ago - Rory McIlroy and Rhys Davies - make the stratospheric jump to the Race to Dubai in the intervening years - it cannot be easy to keep up the day-to-day grind of practice when Tour School still remains a major hurdle. 

For Michael McGeady the plan must be to consider alternative options other than making a life on the European Tour a major objective and having withdrawn his card at Stage 2 last week - after a couple of high scoring rounds - he may be closer to that way of thinking as I write. 

My own recollections now suggests that they were some trips I made to W School that were based on inertia rather than really being mentally ready for the challenge. So with hindsight some of the attempts were really a waste of time and eroded some of the hard earned self confidence. Consequently you reach a point where there is little point in really believing there is a “next year”. 

FORE Ireland team mate Michael Collins was unable to do better than 46th place and showing no major improvement since last year so it will be a long wait for next September – should he decide to return – with the Irish Open the only taste of the big time on offer at the moment. 

For David Mortimer - in his best ever season yet – next season at least brings a trip to the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth in May, the PGA Cup in the USA in October, as well as the Irish Open - all courtesy of his wins this year. It remains to be seen whether Q School is on the agenda as approaching forty years of age he may feel the moment has passed him. 

But if Damian Mooney gets his card at the of the next six days – at the age of 42 – then it will give Mortimer even more motivation perhaps. 

For Niall Turner of Muskerry the year ended with his two sided attempt to get a tour card - trying the PGA Tour in September and also the European Tour – falling short and unable to make the breakthrough this year. There comes a point when fortune also needs to match desire and ability and the quality of golf needs to be impeccable and error free in order to pass through the eye of the needle that is Q School 

Already some of his fellow Irish players in the USA have decided that they might let the dream go now with Waterville's Mark Murphy already making that decision in recent weeks following PGA Tour Second Stage 

Although Barrie Trainor has time on his side it will be a long twelve month ahead in which a lot of things can happen – not least of is funding a playing season of significance - given that access to Challenge Tour will be based on invites and the EUROPro Tour being the only other alternative. 

Regardless of the choices the key for Barrie Trainor - and all the players - will be to remain competitive so that when Q School comes around next September they are ready. 

But for bow I will just follow with interest how Mooney, Thornton, Colm Moriarty and Niall Kearney fare at the PGA Catalunya. It will be a tough few days with much attrition and moments that will be truly testing. 

But given the choice it would easier to be there competing than watching from afar. 

Take it from me.

Q School is the Toughest Thing

In my view there is no lonelier place in golf than Q School where you are battling either to get your card for the first time - or worse still – trying to reclaim your playing rights mid-career with a mortgage to pay, family at home and other commitments. Either way, it is pressure which is unbearable at times, but is part of the game’s great ritual and the gateway to any of the main Tour’s – be it Ladies, European or Senior. 

However the one good thing about Qualifying School is that it’s a great leveller and dispatches fortune and misery equally to former champions, Ryder Cup players and rookies alike. But trust me, that can be little consolation at times. 

Having been almost a regular at the Final Qualifying - returning annually from 1999 to 2006 – I was meeting fellow pro’s in a similar predicament each time from all over the world. For the more experienced the wear and tear of the game showed giving us a more philosophical outlook on the game from which the younger guys were so far spared. 

Luckily in 2004 I reclaimed the card. But unluckily I then failed to make enough that season to 

retain it – going back to Q School for the final time in 2006. Like all who make the journey each round is still etched in my memory with thoughts coming to the fore on occasions even today of what might have been and the “if only” shots – which can be a destructive force. 

But in golf – as with all sport – there is little time for sentiment as the sport always has a loser – if there are winners on the other side - and the Race to Dubai at the weekend with Ian Poulter showed that clearly to all of us. Even if rules, regulations and fortune can also play their part. 

Watching the Irish guys battling in Spain this week at the European Tour Qualifying School Stage 2 – in what were unseasonably wintry condition – those memories come flooding back to me as I hear about holes that were drivable suddenly becoming unreachable in regulation. 

Or, with the heavy rains the greens then need to be squeegeed making the run of the ball nothing like in the practice rounds. And in the case of one of the days in Costa Ballena, the wind became so strong it was hard to stand upright on the tee-box. 

Given the mind plays its role each of these events usually seem to happen when you just need to scramble a par or even need a birdie to stay in touch. So you have to be very strong mentally to keep the clarity of thought and overall focus to battle throgh the challenges – which I can tell you is easier said than done. 

In the end all the details matter a whit as the score-card is the only measure of whether you get access to the magic of a Tour Card or playing rights at the highest level. 

These days the Q School has become longer with Stage 1 starting in mid September, followed by the Stage 2 in late November – each of which is four rounds – and those making the top 23 spots at each event passing to the next event. Faced with these limited numbers the best advice you can give any pro is to spend little time looking around the practice range so as not to add up the number of players around you as one could give up before even hitting a ball in anger - as 650 players started out last September chasing only 30 spots. 

If you prevail at Stage 2 – as Niall Kearney and Damian Mooney have done this week - then it is on to a six round affair at the PGA Catalunya in Girona with the cut being made after the fourth round. Although it sounds like a chummy gathering - it is far from it - as each of the hundred and fifty players are also vying for their financial livelihood for the following season – with little or quarter given on the course 

This year Kearney and Mooney will be joined at the PGA Catalunya by Simon Thornton and Colm Moriarty, who are also returning once again to do battle. Last year Thornton was one of the two players to secure a card with Gary Murphy the other, after he lost his rights in 2009. However both failed to keep them their rights this season for 2011. 

Last year’s winner Simon Khan won Q School Final Stage after travelling there in hope in 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2009. The win earned him an automatic spot at the BMW PGA Championship in May – which Khan the won – earning a five year exemption for the European Tour along with the not inconsiderable prize money of €750,000. 

It is these stories that make you see the agony of Q School in a very different light with each player hoping that one year their turn will come. 

For all those who missed this year though it’s now long wait until next September. 

Philip Walton © 

BLOG www.philipwaltongolf.blogspot.com 

TWITTER philipwaltongolf

Philip Walton - Rain Will Favour Europe

The Weather has had more than a passing influence on the Ryder Cup in the past and the forecast this weekend suggests that heavy rain will play a role in the opening four-ball’s on Friday morning at The Celtic Manor. Similarly to the K Club in 2006 when Ian Woosnam’s side were only minutes away from seeing play suspended when the rain gradually eased. 

At Valhalla high winds from Hurricane Ike caused damage around the course during the practice days but did not delay the start as the trees were cleared in time for the Friday start. Bizarrely the same also happened at the K Club when Hurricane Gordon roared through Straffan on the Wednesday night delaying access to the course on Thursday’s last practice day. 

In 1995 there were no such weather problems as conditions were the typical pleasant autumn conditions of the northeast coast of the United States. Our problem was dealing with the burden of winning in the United States which at the time was a rarity. 

The strength of the US Tour was such that winning our share of singles matches - away from homes - was a hard task especially faced with a list of their major winners; Curtis Strange, Fred Couples, Corey Pavin, Ben Crenshaw and Davis Love III. 

In my pairing with Jay Haas I knew the American had finished third at The Masters, fourth at the US Open and eighth at the USPGA Championship that season alone. Although he may not have been one of the big guns on paper his record was impressive enough for me to be the underdog. 

There were reasons to be concerned as the Americans were tough and none more so than the current US Ryder Cup captain, Corey Pavin, who made surprisingly easy work of Bernhard Langer that Sunday. Having won the US Open that summer Pavin was at the peak of his powers. 

In the middle order Ben Crenshaw, winner of The Masters that April, as well as in 1984, was drawn with Colin Montgomerie and lost; Per-Ulrik Johansson was against Phil Mickelson - only three years a professional – and lost; Mark James beat Jeff Maggert; Constantino Rocca was beaten by Davis Love III, who finished second at The Masters that year with David Gilford winning his match against US Rookie, Brad Faxon. 

Up front the opening battle between Ballesteros and Tom Lehman gave USA their first point but was matched by Howard Clark's somewhat unexpected win over Peter Jacobsen. The other major contest between Fed Couples and Ian Woosnam went the distance with both failing to birdie the eighteenth for a win so halved the match. An exact repeat of their other epic in 1993 at The Belfry. 

With Faldo turning the match against the 1988 and '89 US Open winner, Curtis Strange, the door was opened further for Europe when Sam Torrance took the point against Loren Roberts. 

As my match play record as both amateur and professional was good I walked on to the first tee box anxious to get started. When I shook hands with Jay Haas and looked at his ashen face I know he didn’t really fancy it and set about my business. By the time we reached the fourth tee I was three holes up. 

This weekend the forecast rain favours the European players as the US players may not really get their rhythm going in the cold and wet October conditions in Wales. Although it should work in our favour the US Captain Pavin is one tough cookie and as long as the course remains playable he will push the US team all the way. Let’s not forget he was a ring leader in the US victory at Kiawah Island on 1991 which was named the “War on the Shore”. 

It would be a pity if the weather affects the quality of the golf or worse still, changes the running order as happened in Valderrama in 1997. But with over 15 mm of rain Tuesday night with casual water visible on some greens on Wednesday and cloudbursts due on Friday things do not bode well. 

Or should I say, do not bode well for the US team anyway. 

Philip Walton ©

in association with Evening Herald

Europe To Win in Wales

Every Ryder Cup is won on the Sunday simply because there are twelve points up for grabs in the singles matches. For the fans the drama builds as each pairing works their way through the eighteen holes. Momentum builds when the home team start winning matches and Colin Montgomerie will have this in mind as he plans the week. 

By the middle of the day when all the pairings have teed off the scoreboard becomes the focus of the drama as hole by hole the score shows how each team is progressing. For the players the scoreboard also lets them know the news adding to the tension. 

For the captains though the pairings for Four-ball and Foursomes are also vital as no points need to be lost early so neither team gathers a big lead. The other difficulty is to ensure all the players have been out at least once before the individual battles on Sunday. 

This is something 1999 captain, Mark James, failed to do at the Country Club in Brookline when Rookies, Andrew Coltart and Jean Van de Velde, played their only Ryder Cup golf in the white heat of Sunday. Not surprisingly both matches were lost as Coltart drew Tiger Woods and Van de Velde faced the tenacious Davis Love III. 

The opening match on the Friday is always a statement of intent so Montgomerie will send out a key pairing at The Celtic Manor. As host captain he has elected to start with the Fourball - which is a reverse of tradition – but is a tactic started by Seve Ballesteros at Valderrama in 1997 and followed by Woosnam at the K Club in 2006. 

It is my guess that Graeme McDowell and Rory McIlroy will start the battle for Europe 

No better way to set the tone than have the top US pairing face the current US Open Champion and the winner of the Quail Hollow Championship – which McIlroy did with a stunning final round of 62 on a notoriously difficult course. The other obvious pairing is Franceso and Edoardo Molinari 

Lee Westwood could join the winner of this year’s USPGA Championship, Martin Kaymer. The combination of ice cool Luke Donald and Miguel Angel Jimenez would also be strong partnership as the Spaniard is a dogged competitor on the golf course – albeit a real gentleman in the clubhouse. Donald has also shown the US players his talent right the FedEx Cup. 

The afternoon Four-ball, which is the stronger format for the US players, should see McDowell join Padraig Harrington and with the controversy about the Dubliner’s selection Monty will feel the need to get him out day one to silence any remaining critics 

Fitness will determine if Westwood is used again in the afternoon and the German Rookie, Martin Kaymer, might also be rested. But if they notch up a win Montgomerie will be tempted to put them out again. 

The combination of Ross Fisher and Peter Hansen makes sense to me as the Englishman is big hitter and the Swede a very steady player - giving the pairing balance. In Valhalla two years ago Faldo used Poulter almost exclusively with Justin Rose to good effect so in Wales it will be a new combination for the colourful Englishman as Rose is absent this time. 

On Sunday the strength will be in the middle order with Harrington up front if he is on form is right and his leadership skills on song. If the dynamics are right and McIlroy is in Quail Hollow type form he could lead the attack. And if drawn against American Rickie Fowler it would be pure Hollywood. 

Regardless of how it all starts one match will inevitably become the focus of everyone’s attention on Sunday afternoon when all the other matches are over. When that happens twenty thousand people suddenly converge on the one match. 

For me the hullabaloo started on the way to the 18th tee box and after missing the putt for the win on the seventeenth green I was trying to hold my thoughts together. Suddenly I got an almighty smack across the backside accompanied by a deep gruff Scottish voice mumbling some words of encouragement. When my head shot around to catch the culprit all I could see was Sam Torrance urging me to finish the job. 

It was the perfect wake up call. 

On Sunday someone will be in a similar position as the points never tumble as planned. Without doubt it will be a European player as the team is very strong and Monty is so tactically aware. 

My money is on the Samuel Ryder trophy remaining in Wales.

Keeping the Winning Habit

It was obvious that Colin Montgomerie would become a Ryder Cup captain at Oak Hill Country Club in 1995 as he was always in the thick of things. I remember on the Saturday night he was in the mix with Sam Torrance, Ian Woosnam and Bernard Gallacher discussing the line up for Sunday’s singles. 

Monty was playing in his third event having lost in Kiawah Island in 1991 and at The Belfry in 1993. Here he was holding his own in Rochester in a group of three Ryder Cup legends - each having played eight times in their own right – selecting the order of play for Sunday. 

Veteran Seve Ballesteros was a bit like a school teacher and could be very fussy about details at times. On a couple of occasions I saw that side of him and it’s not a place you really want to be too often. 

Ian Woosnam and I were friends - despite him beating me at Portmarknock in a play off at the Carolls Irish Open in 1989 – and he gave me great advice all week. 

Constantino Rocca just smiled and laughed all week and was a breath of fresh air lightening the mood all the time. Mark James was also funny and not always the way he comes across in his TV commentary. Along with Howard Clark and David Gilford they made the team room pretty relaxed for a Rookie. 

It was the exact opposite to Sir Nick Faldo who could be dour at times. But he was a winner with two Open titles and a Masters so naturally had a big influence on things. In fairness to Faldo it was his point against Curtis Strange - after being a hole down with two to play - that made our team win even possible and gave my match such unexpected importance. 

The daily routine was pretty straight forward with a 5:30am start everyday with a buffet breakfast before heading out on the course for eight o'clock. There was a daily team meeting at seven and dinner about half an hour later. The meetings were generally not more than fifteen to twenty minutes. 

Dinner lasted about an hour - with no alcohol – all very strict until Sunday of course when we won. In those days diet and nutrition were not such a big deal either. 

The big thing you notice though towards the end of the week is that the tension starts to drain your energy and rest is vital. Otherwise by Sunday you are frazzled for your singles – which is not where you want to be. 

The team room was simple with a blackboard used only for key messages that the captain or players wanted to make at any stage. On the Saturday evening I arrived a few minutes late for the last team meeting and got a stern rebuke from Ballesteros as I took my seat. When he was finished I just stood up, walked over to the board and wrote “Tomorrow we will win” returning to my seat without saying a word. 

In my mind the scene was set for Sunday at that point for me - I had to win. 

The team captain Bernard Gallacher was funny and his style was all in that vein. He was always around but never in the way of things. On the practice days though I felt conscious he was watching me and I made some average shots at times that might have affected his pairings for the opening day. 

When Bernhard Langer and Per-Ulrik Johansson won their morning foursomes Gallacher decided to play them again in the afternoon fours-ball despite having told Ian Woosnam and myself to be ready to go out. For some reason he changed his mind at the last minute. 

In interviews since Gallacher has admitted that he thought the Ryder Cup was lost on the point Langer - Johansson gave up that afternoon and that it would prove pivotal for him. In the end it didn’t – much to his relief and ours. 

But he was a good captain and on the last hole when I was in the rough Bernard came up to me to check if everything was alright. When I said things were grand he moved on and left me alone to play my five wood into the green. 

For any misgivings about Nick Faldo he was a winner and the win in 1995 reminded him of Europe's first victory on US soil in 1987 which Seve and Faldo were part of in Muirfield Village. At the time I didn’t fully understand their emotions and tears on the 18th green. But I do now. 

Both men understood that winning is a habit that doesn’t last forever.

Philip Walton  ©

in association with the Evening Herald

Some Irish Ryder Cup Moments

For one crazy week it is Europe versus the USA on a golf course in a match played in front of thousands of people in a very intense atmosphere. In the United States it can be even more difficult as the fans are very biased – especially if the home team is winning – so not easy.

Our win in Oak Hill Country Club in 1995 was a huge break for many of the older players who had never won in the US.

What followed my putt on eighteen felt like mayhem and there was a spontaneous party that moved to the club house, followed by a late night and a journey home the next day on Concorde to Dublin, as most us were down to play the Smurfit European Open at the K Club. Not sure there was much point in playing given we were all knackered. 

On landing in Dublin Gallacher and Seve insisted I get off first holding the Ryder Cup trophy. 

Funnily enough although I had just played golf in front of thousands of people the limelight part was more difficult for me to handle and they had to drag me down from the middle of the plane to do it.

The memories of the last at Oak Hill was of a deafening silence when my chip ran towards the hole and as I could not see the ball standing below the green and the lack of reaction worried me for a moment. Then I realised that I had just annoyed about twenty thousand Americans around the green so they weren’t happy.

The ball was buried in the thick grass on the edge and at one point I almost stood on it because it couldn't be seen. Thanks to the foresight of Ian Woosnam it worked out. He had made me practice that shot in the tough grass for two days at the start of the week and wouldn’t let me stop until he was happy I had it in my armory.

Having seen my putt on the 17th slip I needed to make sure of this one went close. Whe

n the ball rested within inches of the hole Jay Haas conceded and before my caddie, Roy McLoughlin could replace the flag Captain Bernard Gallacher came charging towards me lifting me up in the air in the middle of the green and people from everywhere joined in. 

From orderly golf to absolute bedlam in seconds.

Since that putt things did not stop and in the public eye there was never a more important moment in my career. It is still the thing I am most asked about and in that sense it was career changing. But in many other ways it was not what people might think as my game began to struggle after that September. 

There were Irish players before me who had been key to Ryder Cup wins and undoubtedly their lives were changed too - but they didn't seem to be as affected. 

In 1987 at Muirfield Village, Ohio, Eamonn Darcy sank a nerve-jangling five foot downhill putt on the last green to beat Ben Crenshaw and secure Europe’s first victory on American soil – a major break through at the time. 

At The Belfry in 1989 Christy O’Connor Jnr’s two iron to the middle of the green was enough to beat the Fred Couples and retain the trophy for Europe. 

Of course in 2002 when Curtis Strange kept his best two players at the bottom of the line-up the USA were unable to stop the European charge. 

It was Paul McGinley who secured the final half-point against Jim Furyk – who was unlucky not to hole from the bunker like Azinger in the preceding match - to win at The Belfry adding another Irish make to the Ryder Cup history books. 

Surprisingly I have never spoken to any of the other three about the Ryder Cup in all the years. Maybe because it wasn’t good for my game. 

But maybe I should because it was such a great moment for a lot of people.

Philip Walton ©

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Ryder Cup is Hard to Explain

It is hard to explain why the Ryder Cup is different – but it is – even though it's still golf. 

The competitive element is different because you are part of a team which golfers are not used to as we play a very individual - and selfish - sport. Then when you put twelve players used to winning out against each other that instinct just increases twenty four fold. 

Both sides are also playing for National pride which adds to the mix. All that together makes the golf event very different and winning is what it’s all about for those four days. 

Going into Sunday at Oak Hill Country Club the US team needed only five points from the 12 singles matches to retain the Samuel Ryder trophy – which they had in their possession since 1991. 


Put into context the European target of seven and a half points had not been achieved since that win at The Belfry in 1985. So we had a mountain to climb on paper at the New York State venue. 

On the Sunday our Captain Bernard Gallacher put Seve Ballesteros out first and Ian Woosnam fourth hoping to outfox US Captain Lanny Wadkins and get points early. 

Sir Nick Faldo was in the middle order with myself 11th and Per Ulrik Johansson last - both protected from the pressure, supposedly, in the belief that by then the game was either won or lost and our matches would n’t perhaps matter. 

As the day progressed that was not to prove the case as wins by Howard Clark, David Gilford and Nick Faldo – with Woosie winning a half point in his match against Freddie Couples – changed things. 

Faldo was in the eighth match and surprisingly in trouble against Curtis Strange and one down with two to play. As only he could, Faldo turned it around and won the match on the eighteenth green. 

Behind his match I added to the good news having started well I went two up against Jay Haas early and felt good – controlling things nicely. 

Matchplay is all about pressure and not always about beautiful golf and as Oak Hill punished mistakes I knew it was still a long way to go. All I wanted to do was just keep the pressure on Jay and off me. 

But on the third I dropped a shot and again on the fifth as a par was not good enough when the American putted for birdie. 

Having recovered at the eight I had a great chip at nine to get the lead back when Haas failed to par the hole. 

On reaching the fifteenth, a tricky hole protected by water one side and a bunker on the other, I felt confident enough to go for the flag and landed the ball about four feet away. Another birdie to go three up with three to play. 

But it was far from over. 

Haas holed a super bunker shot on the sixteenth for birdie and for the first time in the round I had a poor putt on the 17th to see the lead down to one going into the last. 

Off the 18th, Haas went left behind a tree on the left and I landed on the right in the semi rough with the ball sitting just right for me to have a go at the green. 

But I didn’t make it with my five wood hitting the rough and as Haas was half way up the fairway - after a good recovery – saw his pitch spin off the green. It looked like trouble for me – until he chipped well past the hole. 

Game on again. All I had to do was roll it close but it wouldn’t be easy out of the greenside rough to control the pace. Looking back now it’s still nerve jangling stuff. 

When the ball rested less than a few feet away Haas conceded defeat and everyone went crazy, Nick Faldo was in tears, Seve was in tears. I can't remember if I was crying but I'll tell you one thing: you had to be strong to deal with that type of pressure. 

People have no idea.

Philip Walton ©



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