Liam Nolan and Max Kennedy will both begin their maiden campaigns as touring professionals this week at the SDC Open at Zebula Golf Estate & Spa in South Africa as the HotelPlanner Tour (formerly Challenge Tour) gets back underway.
Galway’s Nolan turned professional in August while Kennedy of Royal Dublin entered the paid ranks at the start of this year following excellent amateur careers from the pair.
Nolan has made a handful of professional starts in his career so far and has secured Alps Tour status for this season while Kennedy has a full card on the HotelPlanner Tour after a strong performance at Q-School in November.
24-year-old Nolan is in the field this week and next week via an invite and is eager to make the most of every opportunity given to him this season as he looks to find his feet as a professional.
“Really looking forward to it. It will be change from the courses we usually play and players we play against but just got to keep trusting what I have been doing and really looking forward to upping the level again in my golf and the people I play against every week,” says Nolan.
“I’ve had a really good four years in getting better every year in my mental game and my actual golf game as well. It has been a really good learning curve for me.”
Nolan enjoyed a decorated amateur career which included a breakthrough win at the Brabazon Trophy in 2023, a Walker Cup appearance for Great Britain and Ireland as well as multiple Irish caps and a place at last year’s Open Championship in Royal Troon.
Kennedy himself wasn’t short of silverware during time in the amateur ranks, winning two collegiate events in the United States as a student at Louisville while he also played a starring role for the International side during two Arnold Palmer Cup appearances.
He also was a full Irish international and played at the Amgen Irish Open at Royal County Down last year.
Kennedy came within a whisker of clinching a DP World Tour card for this term but missed out by a shot at the Final Stage of Q-School and with a full HotelPlanner Tour card secured he is primed to strike and continue the rich vein of form he has shown over the last couple of years.
Leave a comment