Damien McGrane will step straight out of the yellowed pages of golf history and onto Europe's professional fairways inside the next three weeks.

Tour rookie McGrane is a throwback to those far off days when Christy O'Connor wielded a mean mashie niblick and there was no need to call him 'Senior.'

Way back then, even the game's greats had to hurry home to their club duties after completing a tournament, win, lose or draw.

Times have changed so much, especially in the 31 years since McGrane was born in Kells, Co Meath, that he will be the only player in the world this year to combine a full campaign among the game's touring elite with the demanding duties of the club professional.

After two seasons of long-distance, double-jobbing on the European Challenge Tour, Damien is used to playing partners looking at him as if he stepped out of the Old Curiosity Shop instead of the thriving retail outlet he runs at Wexford Golf Club.

"It is far out for most guys to try and comprehend," he says with a smile. "Last year, when I told other players what I do, they usually found it incredible.

"They haven't got enough time in their day to be a Challenge Tour player and I'm able to walk away from it; probably not be able to play golf for five or six days and then go back and play another tournament.

"Yet that's exactly what suits me," adds Damien. "I don't like playing golf day and night, day-in and day-out because I just get sick of it and, after a while, I don't compete well.

"So every few weeks, I'll just go home, hang up the clubs and throw myself headlong into the club job and I love it. I've always wanted to be a club pro' and never considered anything else.

"It's my business and my hobby it's a fabulous way to get through this life," explains McGrane. Yet he never lost the desire or determination to fulfil his true potential as a player.

"Club pros generally don't have playing aspirations," he says. "They get to a point where they stop trying. Most of them give up too early, whereas I haven't.

"I always fancied my chances of playing on a bigger stage and now, after trying for the last six or seven years, I have made it onto the Tour. Not many people get the opportunity in life to play on the European Tour. Now that my chance has come, I plan to take it with both hands.

"It's fantastic but I'm lucky that Wexford Golf Club have been so supportive and it's great to have guys like Glen Robinson and James Roche to look after the shop when I'm not there."

All of McGrane's dreams may have come true but a lot of hard work and horse sense has gone into this fairytale of the fairways and, as Damien's opponents will discover, he's as rugged and resilient a competitor as they are likely to meet on Tour this season.

Pádraig Harrington, also 31, says without hesitation: "I played a lot with Damien and we always seemed to get drawn together in amateur championships. He was the one player I hated to get because he was relentless.

"You always knew that, no matter how things went, you were probably going to go down the 18th.

"When I was playing well, a Walker Cup player and the like, I'd almost be one-up on most people on the first tee but never against Damien McGrane. He didn't care who he teed it up against. He was going to play exactly the same way for 18 holes and even if you won a couple early, he'd never give in.

"If he does still have it, it would be tremendous. If he never looks around and is content to do his own thing and knows that he will get the best out of himself just by playing his own game, it will stand to him on Tour."

Far from being surprised by McGrane's decision not to give up the day job, Harrington applauds his wisdom. "You could never accuse Damien of not thinking things through carefully," he says with a knowing smile.

"There's many a guy who has given up everything to go out on Tour and, at the end of the year, they are 40,000 in debt with no job. I think he's doing the right thing. There's no point in jumping into it and saying 'here I am'.

"Having a job outside of the Tour certainly takes the pressure away from him of having to be an automatic, straight-off success.

"It's like me, I had an accountancy degree when I went into the game and he has his qualifications as a club pro; his job at Wexford Golf Club and the security of knowing there's something else he can do very well."

With a wife, Geraldine, and two children, Gemma (6) and Ethon (3) to support, that safety net is infinitely more important.

McGrane took the 35th of the 39 cards won at Q-School, though the fact that eight players ahead of him in the pecking-order are planning to play in the 'States will boost his prospects of winning tournament invites this season.

"In a Ryder Cup year, he would have found it difficult to get into more than six tournaments in the first six months but he could yet get up to 10 in that time," says Harrington.

"At the end of the day, he'll have to get his card from 15 or 16 events, which will require one hell of an effort because they will not be the big money events.

"Ironically, if you manage not to look at it like that and just do your own thing, then it can be done," he adds.

Joey Purcell, the Portmarnock club pro who played an enormous part in igniting teenager McGrane's interest in golf at Headfort and has followed his career closely ever since, insists: "Damien has what it takes to do well on Tour and he's not afraid of anyone."

Instantly struck by McGrane's natural talent and his remarkable application, Purcell invited the raw youngster to caddy for him as he blazed a victory trail around the Irish club professional circuit.

"I was lucky to be able to watch and learn the game from a true perfectionist," says McGrane. "Watching Joey play and the way he went about his work convinced me that there was nothing I would like more in life than to be a club pro."

Purcell helped McGrane achieve that ambition when he took him on as his assistant in Portmarnock in 1990.

Damien would three years later return to Headfort to complete his apprenticeship under Brendan McGovern, whom he would succeed in 1996 as Irish PGA Order of Merit-winner.

Appointed by Wexford in 1997, McGrane again topped the national Order of Merit in 1998 and '99.

He took the silver plate as top club professional in the 2001 Volvo PGA Championship at Wentworth, putting him on the winner's rostrum with Andrew Oldcorn, Angel Cabrera and Nick Faldo.

McGrane made his breakthrough onto the Europe-wide Challenge Tour in 2001 and rose from 52nd to 25th in their rankings last year.

The Challenge Tour is heavy on expenses and not too hot for prizemoney so McGrane barely covered his expenses with a total of €60,000 won and much appreciated grant aid from the Team Ireland Golf Trust.

Though his potential earnings will be far greater on the Tour this year and he has completed an endorsement deal with Taylor Made/Adidas/Maxfli for all his equipment, Damien is still hopeful of further support from the Team Ireland Trust to help him get the show on the road.

Whether or not he can complete the fairytale by taking a substantial slice of the European Tour action and retaining his card is debatable but as Purcell insists, McGrane has earned his place among the elite.

"Absolutely," says Purcell in his assessment. "Damien is where he should be."