Gary Hurley reveals he is battling rare nerve injury

Gary Hurley has revealed that he is battling a rare neurological autoimmune disorder called parsonage turner syndrome and that’s why he hasn’t made a competitive appearance this season.

Hurley enjoyed a solid season on the HotelPlanner Tour in 2024, making the Rolex Grand Final although he did miss out on earning a full DP World Tour card.

The West Waterford man ended his year on a high though with a 42nd place finish at the AfrAsia Mauritius Open on the DP World Tour before Christmas but his 2025 campaign has yet to begin due to this very rare injury and it remains unlikely that he will tee it up competitively this season.

Parsonage-Turner syndrome (brachial neuritis) is a neurological condition that causes sudden and severe pain in your shoulder and upper arm. The pain can last from a few days to a few weeks. Muscle weakness in your shoulder, arm, forearm or hand then follows the pain. The weakness can last for several months.

Hurley took to instagram to explain the reason for his absence from leaderboards this year.

“I’ve been injured and am still injured. I’ve had a pretty serious injury, a thing called parsonage turner syndrome.

“It’s very hard to explain it would be easier to google it! It’s a neurological autoimmune disorder where your immune system attacks your body and your nervous system.

”In my case it’s my spinal accessory nerve and it affects motor control so the ability to move your arm and shoulder with that nerve. It was damaged so badly that I lost 90% of my muscle in my trapezium on my neck here so I’ve lost a lot of mobility.

”I’ve had a lot of pain issues and been to two different specialists I’ve gotten injections but nothing has really worked.

”The specialists have said that the cure for this is time and the timeframe is six months to a full year recovery at my age.

”I was hoping it was going to be less than six months I’ve been doing all the rehab and physio. I just have to wait for the nerve to regenerate.

”I’m limited in what I can do I’ve done a lot of short game and putting but I’ve lost so much control in how I use my right arm so any heavy lifting and stuff is really difficult for me.”