Michael Hoey is hoping to copy his boyhood pal Graeme McDowell and stay super cool this week.

"I'd love to be as relaxed as Graeme on the course, " said Hoey yesterday. "We've been friends since we played in junior events around the Valley and Rathmore when we were 12 or 13 years old and he's always been a positive happy guy.

"He is always to relaxed and that's something that is going to be important as a professional. I've been working with my caddie Graham Black to try and change my strategy and that will pay dividends in the long run."

The Ulster duo have played together at boys, youths, interprovincial and Walker Cup level but Hoey freely admits that McDowell has always been the more laid back of the two.

"After the Masters I turned pro and I started off quite well," he admitted. "But since then I've been getting too intense and not staying relaxed on the course. I've been trying too hard.

"I'll take a new approach this week and try and accept my pars. I've been forcing things a bit too much and I'll try and just two putt a bit more rather than rushing the ball at the hole."

"I need to be more like Graeme and try to be happier with my game regardless of my score. I'm not going to get angry with myself. If I make the cut the pressure will be off and I can attack a bit more at the weekend. So far I've been too tough on myself. I'm trying to forget about my bad shots and stay happy."

McDowell and Hoey were an unbeaten partnership in Great Britain and Ireland's Walker Cup win in Georgia last summer and they hope to boost the Irish challenge this week with a couple of strong performances.

"We played in the Interprovincial Championship at Enniscrone in 1999 and won. And then we played in the Walker Cup foursomes and played really well. That was a big thing for us. Graeme's very positive, he's a funny guy and just enjoys it regardless.

"He can hit a bad shot and really almost forget about it just after almost immediately and still stay meg-positive and really confident.

"Everybody hits bad shots but I've been struggling to accept them. He would be better in that department that me. He drives the ball really well, he's really long and straight and his putting from long distance it fantastic.

"I think he likes the true greens on the college scene in the US and he's been really struggling since he came back with the greens being so slow.

"In the Walker Cup he was knocking the long putts in, he likes good greens and I'm expecting him to do well this week because the greens are good here.

"I don't think he has any weaknesses and maybe he missed the cut in his first event because he was expecting to be on the leaderboard from the start."

I suppose there's a bit more pressure for him now but there's no reason to doubt that he will."

Like McDowell, Hoey feels that they can become a new Irish force on the European Tour if they can come through their apprenticeship period.

"I think we're both pretty talented but need to work on strategy and not expect to be winning things from the start. We can't expect to have it easy for a year or so.

"You can't get top 10s on Thursdays and you just have to make as many pars as you can."

Hopefully for Hoey, the pars and birdies will outnumber the bogeys and the red mist will fail to make an appearance.

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© Brian Keogh 2002

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