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Kevin Phelan is hoping he will be touched by the luck of the Irish at the Madeira Islands Open – BPI – Portugal and, after making a new friend in the shape of Ryder Cup Captain Darren Clarke, the 24 year old is in buoyant mood.
The former amateur star earned the best European Tour finish of his career three weeks ago at the Joburg Open, where he shared second place with three others, two shots behind winner Anny Sullivan of England.
That result has given the former Walker Cup player a timely shot in the arm after he missed out on retaining his European Tour card last season, and suddenly the man who impressed at the US Open Championship in 2013 as an amateur is finding friends in high places.
“I met Clarkey (Darren Clarke) in Turkey and had dinner with him at a pro-am there and he’s been very helpful,” said the Waterford native. “There were a couple of young lads from ISM there and he was really helpful and nice with us, giving us advice, so he’s been good.
“He has such a wide knowledge base, he’s been playing for a really long time now and been very successfully all that time so he’s a great lad to know.
“He helped me with my yardage book in Joburg and he’s been really willing to help. It definitely helped me on one of the holes, on one of the par fives where he told me to get past pin high on the green - that was really good to know.
“He gave me a good bit of general advice, that whenever I learn something from certain players, to write it down and take note of everything and that way you can look back on it down the road so I’ve started doing that and that could be very helpful in future.
“He’s the perfect fit for the Ryder Cup captaincy, he’s obviously very willing to help and he has such a good record, individually and in Ryder Cups, he’s been on plenty of winning teams so he knows what he’s doing.”
Given that the world is celebrating his home nation this week, Phelan is hoping that he can follow in the footsteps Northern Irishman Michael Hoey and Ireland’s Des Smyth by etching his name on the trophy this week, and he feels the Clube de Golf do Santo da Serra course suits his eye.
“The course is good,” he said. “It’s firm again, like it was last. It was really windy during practice but we’re so high up you kind of expect that to be the case. The course is in good nick, the greens are really nice so it’s all good.
“I played well in Joburg and played well in parts in East London so it’s been good. I saw my coach there for a few days last week too so I’m trying to kick on this week and have a good one.
“My game is good in the wind, I have a lot of practice in it obviously so I’m well used to it at this stage.
“Michael (Hoey) won this tournament a few years ago alright, although it was a different course, so I’ll do my best to make it another Irish winner here.”
Phelan is joined by fellow Irishmen Peter Lawrie, Ruaidhri McGee and Simon Thornton while Gareth Maybin is Northern Ireland’s sole representative on the picturesque Portuguese island.
A plethora of former champions of the event have returned for the 2015 edition, including home champion in 2012 Ricardo Santos, two-time European Tour winners Bradley Dredge and Alastair Forsyth as well as former Ryder Cup player Jarmo Sandelin.
The field also includes many of Portugal’s most promising young players, including Ricardo Gouveia, who won in his seventh event on the Challenge Tour last year before coming agonisingly close to earning a European Tour card at the Qualifying School Final Stage.
Scott Henry, meanwhile, returns hoping to go one better than last year, when he was beaten to the title by England’s Daniel Brooks on the first hole of a play-off.
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