Cormac Sharvin’s win in the Irish PGA Championship at Limerick Golf Club earned him an invitation to tee it up in the Amgen Irish Open at Doonbeg and the former DP World Tour player is thrilled to have the chance to compete on Europe’s top tier once again.
The Ardglass native played three full seasons on the DP World Tour from 2020 to 2022, but his last wasn’t a particularly memorable year and he fell out of love with the game as it also appeared to be falling out of love with him.
But with the pressures of retaining his card removed, he’s viewing this week at Doonbeg as something of a free roll of the dice.
“It’s been a few years since I’ve played an Irish Open, and the last few times I was here I was fighting to keep a card and my game wasn’t in great shape,” Sharvin said on the eve of his return where he is among the early starters on day one.
“I feel like I’ve got a different outlook this year. It’s all upside for me this week. It’s nice to be back. The game’s in decent shape in practice and it gives it to blow, so that be an equaliser and hopefully I can capitalise on some of the bad conditions.”
Sharvin has been a regular competitor on the PGA in Ireland Region over the past two seasons as he continues to complete his PGA Professional qualifications, but with his wife due to give birth in November, he feels that this is likely to be his final event of the season. But there’s nothing like a big tour event to provide motivation.
“To be honest, I feel like when I play the lower key events, I’ve got a lot of work to do in terms of trying to get myself motivated and geed up,” he said. “Whereas, I think the environment here creates that anyway.
“I know like I’ve been struggling in Pro-Ams recently just to be to have any level of focus. I’m getting really frustrated and just can’t seem to find that edge mentally to really grind.
“I don’t know how to put it, but yeah, the frame of mind hasn’t been great and I think that is a knock-on effect of playing in Killeen [Castle at the Irish Challenge] and having those juices flowing again and not being able to recreate that as much in Pro-Ams.
“So, I think the environment kind of creates that. I love that, so yeah, I mean it’s gonna be a fun week.”
In terms of what he’d deem a successful week, he views in not so much a case of the numbers he puts on a scorecard, more as a general state of mind and if he can execute on the latter, the former should fall into place.
“I think a good week for me is just getting in a good mindset and being committed to all my shots,” he said. “And I think that stuff kind of takes care of itself but if I play well, I know I can compete at this level so I’ve just got to be in a good mindset, get the competitive juices flowing and I think if I play well, I know my game’s good enough to compete out here.”
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