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Offaly's Richie Coughlan has
teamed up with big hitting John Daly in an effort to get back
on track on the US PGA Tour.
The 27 year old from Birr is
the only Irishman with full playing rights on the US Tour but
his friendship with the John 'Wild Thing' Daly has helped him
see a way out of the nightmare than has seen him make just five
cuts in eighteen events this season.
"I get on great with John
and I give him a hard time to have a laugh. But he doesn't get
the credit he deserves for putting his life back together after
his problems and I try and play as many practice rounds with
him as possible to learn as much as I can," said Coughlan
this week.
"He is a great player
and a great person too and I'm just privileged to be able to
count on him as a friend out here on a very competitive tour.
Coughlan lists Fred Funk as another of his Stateside pals, and
he badly needs friends after admitting that he was almost ready
to throw in the towel last month.
He's already sent the $4,000
entry fee for the 'Q-School' to the US PGA Tour and expects to
go through the gruelling process yet again as he languishes near
the bottom of the money list with just $61,000 in prize money.
"Yeah, I've already paid
the money. Better pay it when you've got it than wait until later,"
he said. "I broke up with my management last week, Stellar
Management and Promotions which was part of Barry Hearn's Matchroom
group. But I'm signing with an Atlanta based company called
Career Sports this week and things are looking up.
"I went through a really
bad patch a while back and I had no enthusiasm for the game at
all. I was shooting big numbers and just wasn't enjoying it but
I'm back in the groove now after a very frustrating year,"
he admitted.
"When you're struggling
the ball goes on the wrong side of the tree or just goes the
other way and that's the way it is. If you're at the other end
of the scale you don't notice these things but I'm determined
to stick it out over here and try and make it.
"It's a very fine line
between making it and having a bad time and the other day I was
cruising at three under with two holes to play and looking good
to make the cut and I finished seven-seven and you just can't
do that kind of thing."
"This is the tour where
everyone wants to be play. The money that's available is just
unreal and that's why I'll try and make it here if I can but
if I can play regularly in European and make a living then I'll
be over there. But first I'm going to give this my best shot,
as they say over here, and hope the breaks start going my way."
After injuring his back in
April and losing confidence in his game, Coughlan is still searching
in vain for "that little bit of magic in the fingers."
While Paul McGinley, Darren Clarke and Padraig Harrington have
made a name for themselves, Coughlan is aware that he is the
"Irishman on the big tour that hasn't moved up to the next
level."
But unlike the Big Three, Coughlan
doesn't have a regular coach to help him iron out the glitches
in his game. He said: "I've always been a feel player and
never really needed heavy coaching. I just need someone to talk
to now and again rather than starting to change everything too
radically.
"I certainly wouldn't
try it now. It's far too late in the season and is something
you'd want to work on over the winter."
But with only $61,644 dollars
in prize-money to his credit Coughlan needs a miracle to save
him from an autumn visit the qualifying school.
"I'd probably need two
top tens but the my confidence has been terrible over the summer.
I've had flashes of brilliance but there haven't been enough
of them. But you're always hoping that this is going to be your
week and I'm just happy to be enjoying myself again."
GOLF SHORTS
+++++
(McDowell)
Walker Cup player Graeme McDowell has withdrawn from Ireland's
Home International team to play at Woodhall Spa from September
12-14.
The Rathmore man is committed
to representing the University of Alabama in a Collegiate match
in Tokyo in the week before the Home Internationals and will
then return to the United States. McDowell, who played in the
US Amateur Championship following the Walker Cup, has been replaced
by Ballyclare's Johnny Foster.
The revised Irish team is:
Stephen Browne (Hermitage), John Foster (Ballyclare), Noel Fox
(Portmarnock), Michael Hoey (Shandon Park), Justin Kehoe (UCD/Birr),
Andrew McCormick (Scrabo), Michael McDermott (Stackstown), Gavin
McNeill (Waterford), Colm Moriarty (Athlone), Stuart Paul (Tandragee)
and Tim Rice (Limerick).
+++++
(Browne)
Stephen Browne's fantastic win in the European Individual Amateur
championship won't mean the end of his singing career.
The Hermitage man plans to
turn professional on the golf course, but he won't give up singing
with his father Edmund.
"Singing is in my blood,"
he said. "I could never give it up, no matter what happens
in golf."
Browne isn't the first Irish
crooner on the fairways. Ulsterman David Feherty, now a commentator
on American television, is a trained opera singer.
+++++
(Schools)
Teen Martin McTernan was the hero as Sligo's Summerhill College
retained the Irish Schools Golf Championship in Nenagh this week.
The 18 year old Rosses Point
talent beat Coleraine Academical Institute's Gary McGrotty in
the semi-finals before defeating Cian McNamara of Limerick's
Crescent College, as Sumerhill came out by 3 1/2 1 1/2
in the decider.
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© Brian Keogh 2001
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