Whether you’ve had a good year or a bad year, we are all the same when standing in a Ryanair queue late at night.
“No more interviews,” jokes Liam Nolan. Although I couldn’t agree more. Not that he’s not an engaging chat, I enjoy his company and I would like to think he finds me semi-tolerable. But it’s been a long week to end a long year for us both and it’s time to go home.
For Nolan it’s time to restock, reflect and hopefully winter well. And if his professional career goes to plan, standing in Ryanair queues will be a thing of the past – he had the extra legroom seats he’s doing just fine for now.
You might be wondering if we are both on the same flight to Barcelona for the final stage of Qualifying School or why we are on the same flight to Dublin?
To put it simply, my plans to cover the latter stages of the six-round marathon on site in Infinitum this week fell through (not my fault obviously) while Nolan doesn’t need the extra stress of a rat race to chase a DP World Tour card after a January to November season of 22 events.
Sunday brought an end to a very encouraging first season as a professional for the Galway man who turned a couple of early season invites into a promotion tilt on the HotelPlanner Tour.
He was expecting to start the season out on the Alps Tour and that would have meant playing in the First and Second Stage of DP World Tour Q-School throughout the year. Retaining his full HotelPlanner Tour card meant he could forego the early stages. And, after missing out on a DP World Tour card at the Rolex Grand Final he had the fallback of an exemption into Final Stage of Q-School.
But he revealed to me yesterday that he had chosen to skip this week’s Q-School. Having missed out on the event by one shot last year he doesn’t feel it’s necessary to tee it up.
You might be wondering why? Why miss out on an opportunity to earn a DP World Tour card, when Irish golf is crying out for some talent to come through onto Europe’s top tier?
Nolan acknowledged himself that his game hasn’t been there over the last few months as his promotion bid via the HotelPlanner Tour fizzled out and he sees no value in bringing an out of sorts golf swing into next week.
The 25-year-old knows that another season on the HotelPlanner Tour is the place for him. Despite earning almost €70,000 in on course earnings, he missed 14 of 22 cuts but shot up the leaderboard whenever he did feature at the weekend of tournaments.
Admittedly, his career has been one of steady progression and he is in no rush to jump through hoops to get to the next level. He even turned down an Irish Open invite in September as it did not fit into his process.
He’s had to bide his time throughout his career, a late developer on the scene of Irish teams as an amateur, he broke through in 2023, winning two huge events and playing for GB&I at the Walker Cup.
He could have turned professional then, but no. Keen to finish his degree in biomedical engineering he stuck to his plan and was rewarded with a qualifying spot at the 2024 Open Championship.
Then came the leap into the pro ranks and 2025 has seen him go from nothing to having a strong foothold in the professional ranks and with stability heading into the New Year.
It’s all good in the world of Nolan who capped off his year with an appearance in the Rolex Grand Final – another new experience full of learnings.
The number of cards available for the DP World Tour via the HotelPlanner Tour will fall from 20 to 15 for next season meaning there will be even more pressure on Nolan and co to perform more consistently.
But for now, his maiden professional campaign has been a job well done and he will start next year in a country he loves – South Africa where another good start could reap more dividends.
Slow and steady might win this race.
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