Colm is confident he will regain form on world fairways this season In 2003 Colm Moriarty was on top of the Irish golfing world. He was the number one amateur golfer in the country and was picked on the Walker Cup team to face the US at Ganton in the UK. Great Britain and Ireland won that match and Colm Moriarty from Coosan outside Athlone decided that he would turn professsional in time for the 2004 season. However three years on and Colm is still battling away on the Challenge Tour looking for a run of consistency that would give him enough points to earn the full European tour card which he so badly wants. I spoke to Colm this week as he was spending a few days at home after an intensive pre-season training stint in Arizona followed by a week in Spain working with his old coach Brendan McDaid. So how have the last three years been for Colm Moriarty? Overall not bad really. I was very pleased with 04/05 and of course I had a great Nissan Irish Open in 05 but things went a little downhill last year and I lost my form somewhat but I am in great form now after several weeks of hard practice and I am really looking forward to 2007. What was the problem with your game — if any? I was doing a good bit of coaching with Pete Cowan before going on Tour and we probably made too many changes to my swing and maybe too much coaching is not the ideal thing and maybe I was thinking about my game too much. I wasn’t too worried in 04 and 05 but I slipped back last year. Now I am back with my original coach, Brendan McDaid, and I am very confident that I can do well this year. We have been working hard in recent weeks and I can feel it coming together nicely now. To play on the European tour or Challenge Tour costs a lot of money, how is that end of it going? I have been very, very fortunate with my sponsors who have stuck by me through thick and thin. Glasson Golf Club, Irish Life, Taylor Made, Adidas, The Irish Sports Council and Hyundai Ireland have all rowed in and look after me very well. Hopefully I can repay them this season. Do you mind the travelling? Not really. It’s something that you get used to. Most Mondays are spent travelling through airports and it’s something that becaomes normal after a while. The part of your life that really suffers is your family life because you are away so much but everyone at home have been such a great support to me — it’s brilliant. As for the social life it’s almost non-existent which is a sacrifice too. There are people who think that golfers are out in the sun playing every day but when I am practising I am at the golf course at 8 am in the morning and I don’t leave until 6 pm in the evening, Did you ever feel like giving up? No. There are ups and downs in every line of work and this is no different — you just keep battling away and I am determined to make it work. Hard work is what it’s all about. What is on the agenda for Colm Moriarty over the next few months? I am going back to Spain for more practice soon and I will play a couple of Pro Tour events in England in preparation for my first Challenge Tour event in France in the first weekend of May. I will not be playing as many Challenge Tour events as I would like this season because of my poor form last year but if I can get a run going I am confident that I can be up there challenging for my card by the end of the season. Do you meet up with other Irish lads on the Challenge Tour and how do you get on with them? I meet them regularly and I get on great with them all but golf is a game that you play on your own and all the hard work has to be done on your own. No-one else will do it for you. In that way it’s a solitary lifestyle. In golf like in every sport everything is so professional now and you have to be professional to compete at the highest level. Any regrets? No. I am learning all the time and really looking forward to this year and with a Challenge Tour event announced this very week for Glasson Golf Club in August it is the perfect motivation for me to get my game going and to do well this season. I have had great support from my family and from everyone in Athlone over the years and I am looking forward to seeing them all in Glasson in August. It should be a brilliant event and it is great for the club to get such a prestigious event.
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