Cormac Sharvin is ready to embrace the quirkiness of Monkstown Golf Club as he looks to land his maiden Brown & Brown Irish PGA Championship this week.
Sharvin, known for his power hitting, will have to tailor his game plan away from his strengths if he is to hold off the likes of Simon Thornton, Colm Moriarty, David Higgins and defending champion Niall Kearney and he believes getting from A to B will be the key.
“It’s very quirky, a lot of irons off tees it seems, small greens and you have to be accurate off the tee. The front nine is only like three or four drivers for me and I would generally hit driver everywhere, so it’s going to be a lot of positional golf and trying to put yourself into position to access some of the small targets into the greens.”
The Irish PGA Championship will be contested over 54 holes. The Ardglass man has scooped some big wins since joining the region in 2024, with the K Club and Donegal Pro-Ams his standout 36-hole victories. He admits that he has struggled over the traditional 18 hole pro-am sprints but he expects to be contending at the business end on Thursday this week.
“I think you’re always relying on patience and discipline. This week is different with the normal 18 hole events you can be a bit more aggressive but this week you can be patient and plot your way around, if it was 18 holes I would take a few more shots on.
“I feel like I am one of the better players here so over three rounds I have more of a chance than over 18 holes.”
After being one of Ireland’s ‘Famous Five’ on the GB&I Walker Cup team in 2015, Sharvin progressed to the DP World Tour but after a few difficult years he stepped away from the game.
Now, the Elm Park pro is loving life on the PGA region and feels the environment is giving him the competitive sharpness he needs ahead of a roll of the dice at Stage One of DP World Tour Q-school next month.
“It’s been great just to keep me competitive I didn’t really fancy going to play on the Alps Tour given where I am in my life. I’m going to Q-School in a month’s time so the region has been great to get a card in my hand to keep me sharp.”
Sharvin gets his week underway alongside Kearney and Thornton at 12:50.
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