Tiger Tim Rice is ready to sink his claws into the money game and prove that he really can play golf.

The fiery 25 year old is regarded as one of the best players to come through the domestic ranks in the past decade.

Now he has to prove it.

Incredibly, Rice never won a title during his amateur career as younger men such as Michael Hoey and Graeme McDowell grabbed all the attention.

He turned pro after winning the Irish Senior Cup with Limerick last year and headed for the Sunshine Tour where he made the cut in every event he played.

Now the Limerick ace Rice is preparing to re-build his game from scratch so it isn't such mental torture.

He's just spent a month working on his game in South Africa with highly respected Johannesburg teacher Martin Witcher.

A swing guru in the David Leadbetter mould, Witcher has looked after Mark McNulty for 20 years and now he's given Rice a huge amount of food for thought.

"I have been doing a lot of things right but there were plenty of things wrong too," said Rice. "I've got a lot of homework to do between now and qualifying for the Europro Tour in April."

As a full time amateur, Rice was one of the stalwarts of the Irish team for the past three seasons before losing his form late last year.

He got it back in time to help Limerick win the Senior Cup, but he has been dissatisfied with his game for several years now.

"I think I've gone downhill since I came back from America. It's nobody's fault really but I just needed a bit of redirection.

"My game is up and down and up and down. It's been all grinding and no comfort zone. Every game seems to be a struggle."

At 25, Rice has a long career ahead of him and he's prepared to spend as much time as it takes to to his game right.

A tenth place finish in the Nashua Masters was the highlight of a pre-Christmas spell in South Africa that yielded six cheques from six tournaments.

"Yes, I didn't missed a cut in the six events I played but it was really tough I'd like to think that it's not going to be such a huge mental struggle.

"The stuff I was doing wrong is so basic and I don't have the knowledge to sort it out myself. I was under par in half my rounds and considering the state of my game and the constant grinding I've done as well as I could do."

One of the more emotional Irish player, Rice gives every shot his all but it takes a lot out of him.

He confessed: "After a round I would be mentally shattered because every shot was such as mental battle. That has to stop."

Just over two years ago he returned from his golf scholarship in the US and lead the qualifiers in the British Amateur Championship.

BUt he failed to follow up on that promise and his career has been something of a roller coaster since then.

"I was sharp coming back from America but the structure here didn't suit me," he said. "In America I was under pressure to perform for my college every week butI didn't have that pressure over here.

"Now that I'm out there as a professional I feel I've learned more in the last four months than I have in the last three years - just being out there.

"Some guys are better off waiting for the Walker Cup before they turn pro but I feel that should have taken the plunge much sooner.

"Even though I have a reputation as a wild hitter I think my game is more suited to strokeplay."

Rice has wanted to be a pro since he was a kid and he's determined to make it no matter how long it takes.

"There was never any question that I wasn't going to turn pro. I was never going to get on that Walker Cup team so it's good to get out there.

"I have high expectations but it was my game that was putting pressure on me rather than my own expectations. My habits got very bad - similar to Paul McGinley last year. My habits were far worse and it's going to take me a long while to get back but I will."

(Hoey)

Michael Hoey is trying to kick-start his career by gaining valuable experience out on the Asian PGA Tour.

The former Amateur champion won his card at the Asian tour school and was 28th in his first event, the Myanmar Open, last week.

Hoey will be in action in the Royal Challenge Indian Open in New Delhi next week before heading home to concentrate on the Europro Tour and his bid for a European Tour card in the autumn.

(K Club)

Arnold Palmer promises to frighten the life out of even the bravest player with the seventh hole at the K Club's new South Course.

At 606 yards, it is exactly the same length as the famous Liffeyside seventh (the 16th for the European Open) at the old course.

The difference this time that instead of the river, Palmer has incorporated a carry over an artificial quarry into the new hole.

"It's fabricated rock, but it looks like real rock," said golf director Paul Crowe. "The hole is an absolute monster but the green is about 75 yards long so that should make things very interesting.

The simple par-three third on the main course could also become a nightmare if Palmer's plans to drop the elevated green to water level are carried out

(Martina)
Beaverstown hotshot Martina Gillen has been named as one of Golf World's Top-50 College Players to Watch for the second consecutive season.

Gillen, 21, is studying business management at Kent State in Texas. Last year she had nine top 10 finishes, including four wins.

(Padraig)
Padraig Harrington's fans are heaping the pressure on him to win a Major this season.

A whopping 92 percent of those who voted on his website feel that he has got a "good chance" of winning a big one this year. An incredible 42 percent think he will" definitely" pull it off.

(Gareth)
Ballyclare's Gareth Maybin looks set for another hot college season at South Alabama in the US.

The reigning North of Ireland champion, a dark horse for Walker Cup selection, finished eighth in the season opening LSU Spring Invitational.

But the Ulster kid had better improve his handwriting. His university thinks he is from Ballydome in Antrim - not Ballyclare.

(Sandwich)
Ireland's British Open challengers will find a new look Royal St George's in July.

The course has been lengthened by 246 yards and now measures a testing 7,106 yards with the par increased from 70 to 71.

Ireland's Christy O'Connor Jnr came close to winning there in 1985 when he opened with a blistering 64 but finished fourth, two shots behind winner Sandy Lyle.

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© Brian Keogh 2003

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