Paul McGinley will be a familiar voice on our screens next week when he gets in the Golf Channel and Sky Sports saddle for the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale and while he will be calling the shots over Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry it is Stuart Grehan who he is looking forward to watching.
Grehan claimed the Amateur Championship last month just down the road in Royal Liverpool, in his second season since coming back from the professional ranks and regaining his amateur status.
The Offaly man had eight seasons as a professional where he battled on the mini tours before taking on a role as a financial consultant. The 33-year-old has received some backlash after winning the Amateur Championship with some people unhappy that an ex-pro was able to win one of the most coveted titles in the game and earning a spot in The Open and next year’s Masters and US Open.
McGinley, however, has no problem with Grehan’s journey and insists it is better to have had a crack at the pro ranks and not work out to be left wondering what might have been.
“It’s very hard with the rewards in the professional golf these days for the top amateurs not to have a cut at being a pro,” he said at the OFX Irish Legends. “It’s better to have at least had a go and it not happening for you than to always regret not having a go. I’ve no problem with him coming back and good luck to him he seems to be a hell of a player and has a great twelve months ahead of him.
“I’m sure he will play with Rory, Pádraig and Shane next week with some fun practice rounds to look forward to as well.”
Grehan will be on the global stage once again in September when he lines out for Great Britain and Ireland in the Walker Cup in Lahinch, which McGinley will be a pundit at, and the 2014 Ryder Cup winning captain hopes to have a couple more Irish players on Dean Robertson’s team.
“We would love to get a second Irish player or even a third. I remember in 1991 we had three on the team, myself Pádraig Harrington and Garth McGimpsey. We have had five on the team in the past when we won in Lytham so let’s see if we can aim for three.”
McGinley still believes that the Walker Cup is the pinnacle of amateur golf and that it is a great benchmark to reach if you are considering turning professional. If you can’t make your Walker Cup team then the odds are against you making it as a professional.
Ireland has a rich history in the Walker Cup with the ‘Famous Five’ of 2015 in Royal Lytham or the ‘Fab Four’ of St Andrews in 2023. Most of those players have turned professional so the barometer still stands as far as McGinley is concerned.
“I think if you don’t make Walker Cup standard the odds are against you making it as a pro. That is the bar for players out there. If you can perform with that expectation on your shoulders of trying to make the team and still come through that gives you a lot of confidence for at least having a cut.
“I was very lucky to play a Walker Cup and Ryder Cup in my home country. I had a huge amount of pressure on myself to make both of those teams, I remember what I said to myself a year before the Walker Cup in Portmarnock, it’s the best players from Great Britain and Ireland, if I wasn’t good enough to make the Walker Cup team I wasn’t good enough to have a cut at being a professional. That was my line in the sand, I made the team and went to tour school and off I went.”
Having played Walker Cup in 91 in Portmarnock and the 2006 Ryder Cup at the K Club, McGinley knows all about the pressure of trying to qualify for a team event on home soil.
“Not quite the same when I came to the K Club in 2006 but certainly in my years of 2004, 2005, arguably my best years on tour that was really driven to making that team. As much as there is pressure it is also incredibly exciting to have that opportunity to play such a huge event in your home country in front of your own people.”
Leave a comment