He's got no sponsors, nowhere to play and he even hates flying but Paddy Gribben is still dreaming the tour golfer's dream.

And to prove it this rangy 33 year old from Warrenpoint has re-mortgaged his home to give the tour one last shot.

It might sound like a nightmare scenario but former Walker Cup hero Gribben is determined to look on the bright side.

Despite suffering tendinitis, making less than ¤4,000 and losing even Challenge Tour status in 2002, he's fully committed to playing golf in 2003.

All he has to do now is regain his shattered confidence.

He admitted: "Last year was a disaster from the word go. I tried to make a few swing changes and the more changes I made the worse I got and I just lost confidence.

"Everything just seemed to come apart. Just before the second stage of the European Tour Qualifying School I had a few ideas and thought I had found something but it was a total disaster - I couldn't hit the ball."

Now, with a young family to support, Gribben could not be under more pressure.

And with no status on the European Tour this year, the Ulsterman will have to claw his way back the hard way by playing on the EuroPro Tour and other lesser events this term.

"I was going to go to South Africa next week for the Sunshine Tour but I'm not going to bother now," he said. "I'm looking for the consistency that I never really had, even when I look back at my amateur days.

"So I've started to work with Brendan McDaid - he's a very good coach. I was down to see him a couple of times because I have made a lot of swing changes.

"I felt it would be better to spend a lot of good time with him than to go away to South Africa and hope for a big week. There's been too much of that with me in the past and I kind of got lost."

Gribben's career has been a roller coaster ride from the very start.

He turned pro at 20, gave up golf altogether for over two years at 23, bounced back with a bang at 28 to win Walker Cup honours and the European Amateur championship before turning pro again at the start of 2000.

If that wasn't enough he's even had to overcome a bout of the putting yips and a terrible fear of flying after an air scare on a flight home from Chile in 1998.

A farmer's son, he took up the game at the age of 14 under the guidance of legendary Warrenpoint coach Don Patterson.

After a solid but unspectacular amateur career Gribben decided to try his hand at the professional game at the tender age of 20.

It was a mistake.

"I hadn't even won an amateur international cap for Ireland and looking back now it was immaturity. I went all over the place to play, to South America and Asia and even had a few good results ­ I finished third in the Chilean Open one year ­ but in general it was a bit of a disaster and I just got disillusioned."

Broken-hearted, financially struggling and with a wife and baby daughter, Gribben went to work on his parents farm, looking after cattle and sheep and doing other odd jobs on the side.

He didn't touch a golf club for two and a half years but eventually applied to be reinstated as an amateur and started to play again.

His talent shone through again and he won the North of Ireland championship and European Amateur championship in 1998 and the North again in 1999 before being called up for Walker Cup duty.

At the Tour School he won the right to play on the Challenge Tour in 2000 and in some events on the main tour but despite a 10th place finish in the French Open, he failed to progress and went into freefall last season.

Now he's back again.

"I'm going to start from scratch again and give it one more bash," he said. "What keeps me going? I suppose getting a taste of it two years ago when I had a tour category and a few good finishes. Okay, I got lost this year.

"I've always had a swing that I was fortunate enough never to have to give much thought to it - I could just go out and it happened.

"I thought I needed to make a few changes. Guys on tour would say, 'try this Paddy', or 'try that Paddy' and again I had too much information in my head and I started to freeze over the ball - I couldn't get the club back.

"But I put a lot of blame on myself this year too. I had tendinitis and had a cortisone injection to keep going but it started to hurt again after a month even though I kind knew deep down that it would happen.

"I was very, very low at one point," he admitted. "There was a stage there when I said, 'no, I can't take any more of this'. Going away on a Monday, coming back on a Friday. Thinking that maybe next week would be different. But it doesn't work like that."

Gribben even tried changing every club in the bag but by season's end he was forced to sit down and think seriously about where he was going.

"I got a good bit of advice from a few friends and I have decided to give it another shot," he said. "I'm going to be out on my own and re-mortgage my house and get back into it and give it a good lash.

"I think I owe it to myself. I'm 33, I still believe that I'm quite young and that I've got a few good years left.

"I'm putting last year down to experience and I feel I learnt a lot through the hardship. The belief is still there in my ability and Brendan has assured me that I can get to where I want to."

Unlike millionaire superstar Padraig Harrington, Gribben never learned how to practice properly and it has cost him dearly.

"I have to admit that my work rate hasn't been great. I've never been a practicer and I didn't know how to work," he explained.

"When I got out on the tour and I would see guys beating balls after their rounds. I would watch them standing on the practice ground for two or three hours, working on things.

"But I'm more of a feel player. My new coach asked me what drills I used and I had to admit that I didn't really use any.

"I would just stand there hitting balls and not think about what I was doing. So now he's given me a few drills and I am really enjoying it - hitting balls for six or seven hours a day at Warrenpoint. Time just flies when you know what you are trying to achieve."

As for his tendinitis, Gribben has been following an exercise programme to strengthen his wrist and arm for the season ahead.

"It's all been sorted out," he beamed. "I'm not even too worried about flying any more."

All he needs now is a little bit of luck.

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© Brian Keogh 2003

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