On any other weekend, what Niall Kearney from Ireland did when winning the the Brabazon Trophy at Moortown would have given him quite a lot of recognition in his home country. I think it probably does also after this weekend but it will be difficult to compete with how his fellow country man Shane Lowry is portrayed in the media. After all Shane won the Irish Open as an amateur in what was his first start on tour. That is a remarkable achievement!
On the European Tour website I read that Shane is now considering his options, whether to turn pro or not. I think that if he doesn’t those tasked with advising him need to have another serious think. Shane will never get a better opportunity than this! Two years’ exemption and a winner’s category – what more can you ask for? Of course it is unfortunate that he then will not feature in the Walker Cup in September but the game is bigger than that. Shane will have the potential to do a lot of great things as a professional!
It is interesting that three amateurs have now won on the European Tour and all three of them in the last two years. Pedro Martin was first followed by Kiwi Danny Lee in February and now Shane. I don’t think any of them expected to be anywhere near that and they would probably now have been too disappointed only to make the cut. Instead, they produced probably the golf of their lives and went on to win. At the Brabazon this weekend I am sure that quite a few players did the opposite. Came there with expectations and hopes to do great things and perhaps to win the tournament. Some of them left already after the first day having missed the cut and others competed over the weekend but were never in contention. Golf is an interesting sport when it comes to this. How do you know when you are on form? How do you prepare in order to peak perform at the right time? I think very few players are anywhere near understanding their own performance. And even more interesting, way too few are even trying to find out. At amateur level most players still live by the belief that “the more I play the more chances I have to perform”. I would be interested to see the one that changes that belief to “the better I play the more chances I have to win”.