Each month, Irish Golfer Magazine will feature a Player Blog. These will be personal accounts from professionals or elite amateur golfers about life on tour, covering everything from performances, facilities and golf courses to travel, off-course life, and all the highs and lows that come with it.
Our first edition comes from Robert Moran. The Castle golfer is embarking on his third season as a professional. Before Christmas, he won twice on the Winter Tour in Marbella to claim his first and second victories as a pro, and earlier that year, he chipped in on the 72nd hole at the Irish Challenge to secure a debut appearance at the Amgen Irish Open at The K Club.
In this Player Blog, Moran talks about his pre-season preparations, the challenges of relying on invites, and the organised chaos that comes with life on the smaller tours.
Winning for the first time as a professional on the Winter Tour in Spain isn’t the Masters, but it’s a start! Doing it twice was nice too, but this year I’m really looking to kick on.
I’m pretty happy with how the last month or so has gone. The Winter Tour is a good way to stay sharp in the off-season. I have some technical stuff to work on at this time of year, and it also allows me to compete, see where my game is at, and avoid the bad weather at home. I got two HotelPlanner Tour starts out of it as well, which is great.
It was nice to win twice as a professional, but it is only a Winter Tour. It’s a nice thing to have done, but I’m not getting too excited. Hopefully, I can give myself similar opportunities in bigger tournaments and then see if there’s anything I can draw on from this going forward. The more experience you have of winning, the better – it’s always a nice feeling.
Other people like to take more of a break. I took a three-week break over Christmas, during which I got some technical work done, but it’s always better to do it out here and have a card in your hand. For me, I’ve dropped the intensity level slightly because I still want to relax and not wear myself out while I’m over here.
I’m in a nice routine of playing the Winter Tour every week for three days, then practising and doing gym work on the other days. It’s good craic too. John Murphy and Ronan Mullarney are out here, and then Sam Murphy and Luke O’Neill came out later on, so it’s a lot more relaxed than a regular tournament week.
As far as this year goes, I don’t really know what the craic is. I have a pretty poor category on the HotelPlanner Tour, but it’s better than having nothing like last year. I’ll hopefully get a few events. I’m hoping for one or two last-minute invites, which would be very helpful. I’ve shown that I can do it – finishing fourth at Killeen Castle was great – but I was disappointed that I didn’t get one or two more invites and that I didn’t kick on from that as much as I would have liked. After that high at the end of the year, I was running on fumes, and my game wasn’t quite where I wanted it to be.
Having results like that gives you a nice feeling. This year, I want to kick on and do it more frequently.
Life as a young professional on the smaller tours is hectic, but I like it. There’s chaos involved, but I’m enjoying it. When you’re in the position I’m in, you’re not fortunate enough to plan too far ahead or take weeks off. If an opportunity presents itself, I can’t say no. I have to embrace the chaos – the last-minute trips and bookings – that’s what I signed up for and I enjoy it. It’s non-stop.
I’d love to be in more control of my schedule, but I have to take advantage of every opportunity that comes and not get too high or too low. I’m good at treating every week the same, whether that’s the Alps Tour or the HotelPlanner Tour, and staying in the same headspace.
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