Gary Hurley’s innovative “step drill” in hitting his driver off the tee went viral during the Rolex Grand Final but it was the Waterford player’s decision to open up about his mental health which had the greatest impact.
In a visit to The Green Room, akin to a confessional for players on the Challenge Tour’s social media platform to speak their mind, Hurley – who this week heads to the DP World Tour final qualifying where he will be joined by Dermot McElroy and Max Kennedy – recalled how he had taken time off last season to get back into the right head space and of getting back to playing competitive golf again.
“I suffer with general anxiety disorder leading to depressive mood. It’s happened a few times in my career and last year was the first time I went and got it properly seen to. I took a break. I didn’t play golf for four months.
“I wasn’t sure if I was going to come back playing at all to be honest. I took a lot of time off, worked on it with a psychiatrist who helped me a lot, and I eventually started to play again, but just changed a few things in how I go about my business. I deal with the personal impact that golf has on your life.
“Golf is a thing where you have got to roll with the punches, you have to allow it to go away and allow it to come back again and not be too hard on yourself, which is something I struggled with. I have gotten a lot better at it, hopefully in the next six months to a year you will see me back out there.”
The Q-School final at Infinium Golf Resort in Costa Dorada in Spain is a six-round marathon, with 156 players teeing up for 25 tour cards up for grabs.
Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry return to serious business
The fun Halloween playacting is over for Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry who return to the serious business of closing out their season’s at this week’s Abu Dhabi Championship, the penultimate event of the DP World Tour ahead of the Tour Championship finale in Dubai.
McIlroy – who dressed as Super Mario for the Halloween festivities – and Lowry, who kitted out as American football star Travis Kelce (as posted on his Instagram) are part of the 70-player field for the Abu Dhabi Championship with only the top-50 advancing to Dubai where McIlroy is set to claim a sixth Harry Vardon Trophy order of merit win.
One of McIlroy’s personal ambitions is to catch Colin Montgomerie’s record total of eight order of merits. McIlroy’s successes came in 2012, 2014, 2015, 2022 and 2023 and a likely sixth OoM in Dubai next week will see him join Seve Ballesteros in second on the all-time list.
In Words
“I was planning to take Q-School in December and now I can skip that Q-School and go play next year on the LPGA Tour, which is exciting for me now” – Japanese sensation Rio Takeda after the 21-year-old won her eight title of the season in the Toto Classic, a co-sanctioned event on the LPGA Tour and the JLPGA Tour. The victory earned her fully exempt status on the LPGA Tour.
By the Numbers: 2
Pádraig Harrington and Darren Clarke are the two Irish players who have reached this week’s Charles Schwab Cup in Phoenix, Arizona. The tournament, confined to the leading 36 players on the Champions Tour order of merit, brings an end to the seniors circuit for 2024 with Harrington, currently in fourth, having an opportunity with a win in Phoenix to overtake current leader Ernie Els.
X-Twitter Talk
Well we have a new addition to our family. Meet Rio. Nothing could replace Wilson but Setanta was lonely without a friend – Pádraig Harrington announcing the arrival of another Bernese Mountain dog to the clan.
Thoughts on the proposed field/card change: to be honest, I don’t love the changes but that’s probably because I feel threatened by the number of cards going down from 125 to 100. It’s my job to improve and continue to get better and make sure I’m not in the situation I am this yr – Michael Kim’s take on the move to reduce the number of players who retain their cards on the PGA Tour. The proposed changes, which also suggest reducing field sizes from 156 to 144, will be voted on by the PGA Tour board on November 18th.
It’s been a great run – Brittany Lincicome on announcing her plan to retire full-time from the LPGA Tour after a career that included eight tournament wins, among them two Majors.
On this day ... November 5th, 1972
Jane Blalock enjoyed a standout season, but one – in which she won three times – which had the dark shadow of a cheating allegation and an ongoing legal battle with the LPGA Tour hanging over her.
Blalock sank a 3-footer birdie putt on the third hole of a sudden-death playoff to beat Kathy Whitworth in the inaugural Lady Erroll Classic in Apopka, Florida, to add to the Suzuki International and the Dallas Open which she’d won earlier in the season.
Remarkably Blalock showed great resilience in order to focus on her golf and win three times, despite an allegation of cheating which saw her disqualified from the Bluegrass Invitational for allegedly placing a ball incorrectly and then failing to mark a two-stroke penalty on her scorecard.
When the LPGA Tour moved to suspend Blalock she filed an antitrust lawsuit against them, obtaining an order to allow her to continue playing until the suit had run its course. The rules violation conflict would continue until 1975 when, after losing several appeals and being ordered to pay damages to Blalock, the LPGA Tour agreed to settle.
Know the Rules
Q
In stroke play player A looks into player B’s bag without touching or moving anything to see which club B used for their last stroke. What is the ruling?
A
There is no penalty. Information obtained by observation is not advice.
In the Bag
Charley Hull – Aramco Series-Riyadh
Driver: TaylorMade Qi10 LS (8°)
3-wood: TaylorMade Qi10 Tour (15°)
Hybrid: TaylorMade Qi10 Tour (19°)
Irons: TaylorMade P7MB (4-PW)
Wedges: TaylorMade MG4 Raw (50°, 54° and 60°, Nippon Modus 120 S shafts)
Putter: TaylorMade TP Soto
Ball: TaylorMade TP5x
