As Michael Hoey prepares for the European Challenge Tour’s Ireland Ryder Cup Challenge in Killarney this week, the Belfast man will once again put his trust in one of the strongest influences of his excellent 2005 season – his faithful caddie.
After a flying start to the 2005 campaign in Central America, where Hoey racked up three top five finishes in six events, the 26 year old has enlisted the help of his old friend Ryan McGuigan as he bids to join Europe’s golfing elite on The 2006 European Tour via the top 20 of Challenge Tour Rankings, which guarantees a place on Tour next year.
Hoey, the 2001 British Amateur Champion and a Walker Cup winner that same year, is currently tenth on the Rankings with €45,015, and, as he gets ready to play in the €130,000 event at the Killarney Golf and Fishing Club, which hosted the Irish Open on The European Tour in 1991 and 1992 when England’s Nick Faldo secured back to back titles, he will put his faith in McGuigan, the man who helped Hoey to a second place finish at the Challenge Tour’s last event, the Texbond Open in Italy, last Sunday.
“I’ve known Ryan a good 15 years now. We met at Castlerock Golf Club which is near Coleraine where Ryan is from on the North coast of Ireland,” said Hoey. “It’s good to have someone you know on the bag. I decided to take a caddie on full time after starting the season well and I had a bit of cash to spare. I thought that it would be a good idea to have a full time caddie because it’s a great help. Not many players on the Challenge Tour have caddies so I think it has given me a wee bit of an advantage.
“Ryan’s especially good with me because he knows me well and is very good at keeping me relaxed on the course and keeping me in the present. He’s very good and hopefully he can help me get a card for the main Tour, which will mean more money for him because I’m not paying him that much just now!”
Victory, or a top three finish in Killarney would take Hoey to within touching distance of that priceless Tour card and he is determined to secure the first professional win of his career having gone so close last week in Italy, where he carried a three shot lead into the final round.
“It was disappointing not to win in Italy, but I will take the positives from it,” Hoey continued. “Fredrik Widmark played great to shoot six under to win on the last day, and it was nice for me to see that my game can be at that kind of level over four rounds. I think I am ready to move up from the Challenge Tour and hopefully I can show that over the rest of the season.
“I’m looking forward to Killarney because I have never played there before, and there will be a lot of guys from the Irish PGA Regions playing down there so it should be a great week.”
Hoey will be joined in Killarney by local favourite and current Challenge Tour Number Two, David Higgins. The Waterville professional, who graduated the Challenge Tour in second place after three victories in 2000, and is currently second on the 2005 Rankings, will be among the local favourites in Killarney and is delighted to see the first fully sanctioned Challenge Tour event in the Republic of Ireland.
He said: “It’s fantastic to see the Challenge Tour in Ireland. I think it will be a success because you are almost guaranteed good crowds in Ireland, as the people will always get out to support the local lads who will be playing in it and I think, with The Ryder Cup coming next year, golf at home is as popular as it has ever been.
“Plus there are a lot of young golfers in Ireland who will benefit greatly from getting the chance to play in a Challenge Tour event. It will allow them to see exactly what is required to play at this level and offer them some good experience of playing at what I would say is a pretty high standard of golf.”
