“I have moved past the point of dwelling on previous shots”

Rónán MacNamara at Club de Golf Alcanada

Gary Hurley is sticking to his process to avoid getting bogged down in DP World Tour permutations and admits he is excited about what is to come during a crucial couple of weeks in his season.

Ranked 43rd in the Road to Mallorca Rankings, Hurley will likely need to finish inside the top two at the Rolex Challenge Tour Grand Final to secure a return to Europe’s top tier next season. He has work to do after an opening 70 but he will stick to the game plan rather than becoming outcome dependent.

“Of course yeah, obviously I haven’t won on the Challenge Tour, this would be a nice week to do it! I would love to do that. I’m not coming in here hoping to play well. I would love to play well which is great it’s a more exciting way of saying it,” said The West Waterford man who came close to earning a maiden Challenge Tour title back in June, eventually settling for a solo second place finish in the Challenge de Cádiz.

Hurley is eight shots off the pace after an up and down day that saw him mix five birdies and three bogeys at Club de Golf Alcanada and while he admits he didn’t have his best stuff on the day he was pleased with how he was able to forget about some of the poorer shots.

“I have my processes that I stick to that if I am good with those it’s going to be a good day no matter how the outcome is. When the outcome is good it makes you feel a bit better, we are all human we are not robots! Sometimes separating that is a really good thing, it allows you to reset on each shot which I feel like I am getting very good at.”

If Hurley can’t secure his DP World Tour card on Sunday evening he is still excited by where his game is and he exudes a quiet confidence which is not something every golfer is blessed with given that the torturous marathon six-round slog of the Final Stage of Q-School looms next week.

The 31-year-old appears a more mature character on the golf course and believes some of his best form is still ahead of him.

“It’s been a decent season, I can’t say I have had my best game all year but I have been staying in it, figuring it out and just looking forward to the next shot all the time. I have moved past the point of dwelling on previous shots which was a huge part of my make up a few years ago so that’s been a nice change a nice evolve, evolving to that space.

“It’s been a good season I don’t feel like I have hit a spell where I have been playing consistently very good. I am really happy with what I’m doing, I feel like it’s coming which is nice and it’s at a good time for this (Grand Final) and if I win this week I won’t have to go next week! But if I go next week then it’s a nice time for that as well.”