The coming year promises to be a busy one for former Headfort professional Damien McGrane who will open a new chapter in his career when he joins many of the world’s top golfers on the European Tour.

This will be the first time the Kells born golfer will be pitting his skills against the rest in the highly competitive Tour environment after two seasons on the European Challenge circuit.

The 31-year-old will combine his schedule playing in the top tournaments with his job as a club professional at Wexford Golf Club. It is a combination that will mean an extremely busy schedule for McGrane over the coming months.

Hard work and determination are among the qualities that have underlined McGrane’s qualification for the European Tour, after years of effort.

McGrane’s golfing education began at Headfort and continued under Portmarnock club professional Joey Purcell. He was Purcell’s assistant before he returned to Headfort to complete his apprenticeship under Brendan McGovern.

McGrane won the Irish PGA Order of Merit in 1996 succeeding McGovern who was the winner the previous year. He also won the National Order of Merit in 1998 and ’99.

Two years ago he copperfastened his place as one of the

Country’s best young golfers when he won the silver plate as top club professional in the Volvo PGA Championship at Wentworth.

He also made the breakthrough on the Europe-wide Challenge Tour and followed this up last year by moving from 52nd to 25th place in the Tour rankings.

The Challenge Tour can be a precarious adventure for any golfer as it is easy to incur big expenses while the prizemoney is not huge.

Last year McGrane barely covered his expenses of E60, 000 with the help of a grant from the Team Ireland Golf Trust, but the European Tour offers much greater rewards in what promises to be a busy and potentially lucrative year for the Kellsman.