DAMIEN MCGRANE 2006

Liam Spratt - Wexford

Former Wexford golf Club Professional Damien McGrane has made a very successful start to the new season. He is currently the leading Irish man on the PGA European Tour Order of Merit in 36^th position with earnings of 88,363 Euro.

He finished tied 22^nd in last week’s Dubai Desert Classic winning 23,000 Euro. He was however disappointed that he didn’t finish higher after carding two excellent 68’s in the opening two rounds. .

He was tied for 8th position after Friday.

His putting had been superb and he had the best putting stats of the opening two days, twenty-five each day. There is no doubt that the work he has been doing with the putter is beginning to pay off.

He was competing in exalted company as World Number 1 Tiger Woods, Retif Goosen and Ernie Ells were in the field.

The 3^rd round on Saturday proved his downfall however when he had a shoddy front nine "my game was very iffy on Saturday and I threw away four shots on the front nine which was disappointing".

He continued "considering where I was on the leader board and everyone else around me making the right moves I was actually lucky not to have dropped some more shots I was so bad".

An eagle at the 10^th after he hit a 5 wood for his second shot to 15 feet did kick-start the back nine but a bogey at the 12^th quickly wiped that advantage out.

He continued to struggle but birdied the 13^th and managed to get home without further damage but still it did knock the pap out of him.

He was philosophical after his round " I didn’t play well but luckily I didn’t do too much damage it was very windy and conditions were very tricky".

He had played along side Paul Casey and Darren Clarke on Saturday.

He played much better on Sunday and finished with a two under par 70 to give him a share of 22^nd place.

After the round Damien was happier with his game " Yea I played much better today and kept it together well on the front nine.

I birdied the two par fives the 10^th and the 13^th but I was disappointed to drop a shot on the last I just hit a poor second".

It has been a hectic couple of weeks in which he has made superb progress. His start has been encouraging.

He finished tied 7^th in the UBS Honk Kong Open in early December after finishing 7 under par winning 26,407 Euro.

He made the cut at the Dunhill Masters and finished 27^th…. 2 under par and winning 8,500 Euro.

After a tiring year he missed the cut at the South African Open and was delighted to get home for the Christmas break although it was a short rest.

He was back in action on the 19^th of January in the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship in which he finished tied 17^th … 8 under par and winning 21,372 Euro.

Then he played in the Commercial Qatar Masters finishing level pat and a 37^th place still good enough to earn 11,238 Truro but had a poor round on the final day.

Since his dramatic 3^rd place finish in the final Challenge Tour event in 2003 when he earned his spurs and a full chance to play in all of the major tournaments, he has made superb progress.

193,000 Euro earned in 2004 and 408,582 last year.

He really arrived last year making the top 50 to feature in the Volvo Masters at the end of season mixing it with the elite of the European Tour.

He had a busy year and only three players played more tournaments than he did.

This year he hopes to manage his schedule a little better " It was a very tough season last year because it was long and I got very tired at times which prevented me from finishing in a better position" he revealed.

He added, " by the end of the year I was drained physically and mentally and as a result my golf did suffer".

He is a perfectionist and was far from happy with the way the second half of last year finished " The amount of money I won was good but the chances I had and my own expectation’s and what I was hoping to achieve I admit I was disappointed with my performance in the second half of the year".

There was no doubt that by the end of the year his golf game was tired.

He has started well this year and with the help of Liam Staunton and Coach Simon Byrne he feels he is better prepared.

Damien was full of praise for both " Liam I always liked because he had a very sensible approach to life and I admired his attitude because he helped to clear my head and be more focussed".

Damien added " I didn’t believe in all that gobiliy gook before but now I realise that it is a very important aspect of the game of golf".

He has used Simon Byrne as his coach since he went on the European Tour " I am very lucky as I rarely have to change my game but I find that Simon’s work suits me and he did observe when I took my break that my swing had became tired which is understandable after a long season".

He is lucky because he rarely has to tinker with his game" Yea I am lucky in that but now I am playing a lot more golf and it is no different than any other sport when one gets tired then the game suffers".

To counter this he will make one slight change this year " I am going to have a Coach on Tour in 2006 because it is important to have someone on the spot that you can go to during an event if the swing or the putting goes a wry".

His major target this year is to win a Tournament on the Tour " Yes it has to be my target this year and if that happens I would not discount a challenge for a Ryder Cup slot". He added "I am focussed on a win more than anything else this season and will be trying hard to get myself into a position to achieve a win".

It has been a good start but Damien McGrane’s ambitions continue to rise and there no doubt that his single-minded approach will ultimately bring that elusive first Tour win.

His large fan base in Wexford will be very happy when this happens.

Damien is playing in the Johnny Walker Classic this week and will then take a break to recharge the batteries.