Declan Moriarty, General Manager, Park Hotel presents the August Sportstar Award to Gary Hurley. Also included are Mary Barron, Lady Captain, Pat Murray, President, Pat Spratt West Waterford GC and Ger Lawton and Neil Gough, adjudicators. Photo: Sean Byrne//Deise Sport.
As sporting weeks go, it doesn’t get much bigger than the one that lies ahead of Aglish’s golfing sensation Gary Hurley. As you read this he’s in Lytham near Blackpool in the North of England preparing to play in amateur golf’s equivalent of the Ryder Cup – the Walker Cup, as one of five Irish players on the ten man GB&I team who will take on the USA on Saturday and Sunday. Then on Tuesday he’s in Scotland playing in the first stage of qualifying school as he attempts to win his card as a professional on the European Tour for 2016. Now that’s a busy sporting week for you.
THIRD AWARD
Before all that the 22 year-old West Waterford GC member was in the Park Hotel this week to collect the hotel’s prestigious Sports Star of the Month Award for August (his third monthly award win). Gary won the award for finishing second in the European Amateur Championship (for the second year in a row) in Slovakia and for being selected on the Walker Cup team. At the luncheon, Gary was joined by his parents, grandparents and a large section of his fellow members of West Waterford GC, who are also travelling (two bus loads of them) to support their clubman at Royal Lytham & St Annes this weekend. General manager Declan Moriarty made the presentation and congratulated Gary on his great achievements to date this season and wished him the best of luck in the Walker Cup, while Neil Gough, on behalf of the adjudicating panel outlined his great achievements in August and over the course of the past year and also highlighted the fact that Gary also graduated with an honours Computing Degree from NUI Maynooth in June, n the midst of a very busy sporting schedule. West Waterford GC president and Lady Captain congratulated Gary on his award and thanked the Park Hotel for their hospitality and for giving Gary this award.
I took the opportunity to have a brief chat with the young Aglish man as he embarks on the sporting week of a lifetime.
With the build up to this year’s Walker Cup consuming the world of amateur golf for at least the last 12 months, I began by asking Gary if qualifying for next weekend’s match put extra pressure on Gary and the other lads hoping to make the team throughout the year?
“You’d have to say that it did. A little bit at least. It was always in the back of your mind but every day I went out I tried to forget about it and just concentrate on the day’s play in front of me. That wasn’t always easy but we managed it somehow.”
It has been a great couple of years of golf that has got Gary Hurley into the Walker Cup team this weekend but that second at the European Amateur Championships in Slovakia, which won him the August Park Hotel Sports Star of the Month award, really secured his spot on the team. “Going into the Europeans I was putting a bit of pressure on myself thinking to myself that I needed to have a good week either that week or the following week at the US Amateur. After shooting seven under in the second round and getting into the top ten I relaxed a lot more and I started to play better again and when I was leading after the third round I was solely concentrating on trying to win the tournament and I totally forgot about the Walker Cup after the second round.”
IRISH HISTORY MAKERS
Once Gary finished second in Slovakia, for the second year in a row, his place was fairly assured but how did he get the news that he was in the 2015 GB&I Walker Cup team?
“I was at the US Amateur. The tournament was finishing up on the Saturday and we knew that the team had been picked on the Friday and then at about lunchtime over there on the Saturday the captain, Nigel Edwards, rang. As it turned out I was with the other two Irish lads playing that tournament, Cormac Sharvin and Paul Dunne. He actually rang Paul first and when he told him who he was with he got him to pass the phone to us and told us that all three of us had made the team, which was brilliant. We asked him about the two other Irish lads (Jack and Gavin) but he wouldn’t tell us. After a while we text Gavin (Moynihan) and Jack (Hume) and soon we knew that all five of us had made it so we were all buzzing, it was great day. We’ve been playing against and with each other for years and we all get on really well and have a great team spirit so it’s brilliant that we could make a bit of history in five of us making the ten man team. We also know all the other lads on the team and they’re all good lads so there’ll be no shortage of team spirit, that’s for sure.”
It’s really going to be a huge week for Gary and the rest of the young GB&I team. They all met up in Lytham on Sunday and the week will be spent practicing and getting used to the greens and the course, “tomorrow (Wednesday) we’re off to Royal Birkdale for a round and a change of scenery and then at night there’ll be corporate events and the likes so it’ll be full on but I’m really looking forward to it. It’ll be great.”
Gary admits that he has been bowled over by the support and amount of goodwill and best wishes he has received from all over Ireland but especially from the people of Waterford. “It’s been brilliant, I can’t believe it actually. I know it’s a big honour to make the team but I still didn’t realise how much people appreciate what I’ve done in making the team. I think when you get to the level where it’s your goal to make the team I guess you take it in your stride a bit more. If I had made it two years ago it would have been a totally different situation but now I’m a lot more mellow about it because I’ve had it as a goal for a long time. That said I’m sure later this week I’ll be a lot more excited when I get there and meet up with the rest of the team and the reality sets in. It’s going to be a tough ask to win it. We’re slight favourites but that’s probably because we’re at home but we know that most of their team is in the top 20 in the World rankings so we know there’s going to be very little between the two teams and that it’s going to be a real battle.”
PROFESSIONAL DREAM
The busy and exciting times for Gary Hurley don’t end there. After the Walker Cup finishes up on Sunday, whatever the result, Gary will be making his way to Scotland to begin his quest to qualify for the European Tour as a professional.
“Yeah the Walker Cup finishes on Sunday and on Monday I’ll be making my way to Scotland to play in the first stage of qualifying school for the European Tour at the Roxboroughe GC so it’s going to be a busy few days. That tournament is on Tuesday till Friday and I’ll need to finish in the top 20 to progress to the next stage of Q-School so hopefully if I play well I should make it through and hopefully make my way through the various stages and onto the European Tour as a professional for 2016 and beyond, that’s the plan anyway, fingers crossed,” fingers crossed is right, best of luck Gary.
