Philip Walton has a secret weapon on his bag this week - retired Republic of Ireland striker Niall Quinn.

Struggling Walton, 41, asked the ex Arsenal, Manchester City and Sunderland target man to caddie for him during the ¤2.78 million Smurfit European Open.

And ten handicapper Quinn has jumped at the chance to help him turn his fortunes around with his own brand of psychology.

Malahide man Walton has shown signs of his old form in recent months with top 30 finishes in the Italian and Aa St Omer Opens.

Now he has decided to give regular caddie Dave Noble the week off and opted to give 6 foot 4 inch Quinn instead after becoming friends with the former footballer.

Quinn explained: "I met Philip playing golf and we became friends. We looked back on our careers and found a pattern that wasn't too dissimilar.

"I am not a golf person but what I do is try to get away from the things around me and try to focus.

"Philip needs a little help on getting that focus and using the crowd and the thrill of seeing his name on a leaderboard again as a means to getting going.

"It might come this week and it might not. There is no secret weapon to help you to get back but I think I can help him."

The hero of the 1995 Ryder Cup at Oak Hill, Walton went into a slump in 1996 and eventually lost his Tour card.

He has tried to win it back at the tour school he describes as being like "a prison sentence", but has failed three times.

Walton said: "Niall's a good lad and he's a been a great help to me so far. Let's see how it goes. All I need is one good week."

Quinn, 34, has never caddied before and he's just hoping not to make a mess of his big opportunity.

He said: "I was a bit apprehensive at first and scared stiff of making a mistake. I had a nice day with him today and again tomorrow and hopefully I won't let him down on Thursday or Friday.

"I played some golf with him earlier on in the year. I just got chatting to him and comparing the way I approach things and he approaches things.

"We joked laughingly almost that I might caddie for him. He said as a joke, 'Maybe I could do with you out there' and then it went a bit further and he made the call at the start of the week."

Now Quinn is hoping that his own brand of personal psychology can help Walton's fragile confidence.

"Everyone knows that Philip has bundles of talent and I just wanted to get to know him and he became a friend.

"So now he is looking for something else now. He is on the way back and things are starting to go well for him and he feels I can do something for him.

"Hopefully if he can get into the contention the crowd will get behind him and he can get on a roll."

Quinn queued up with the rest of the caddies and paid the ¤20 for the specially prepared yardage book.

He joked: "I'll tell him the yardage and let him do the clubbing. It's great and I'm really enjoying it. Hopefully I won't make any mistakes and we'll be here for the weekend."

The leading Irish international goal scorer of all time with 21 goals, Quinn is not the first ex-footballer to try his had at caddying.

Last year, former Southampton ace Matthew Le Tissier helped Richard Bland in several European Tour events.

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© Brian Keogh 2003

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