The Irish Golf Club Gazette: 05/16/16

5/16/2016

Profile - Colm Moriarty

With an amateur handicap of (+5), Colm Moriarty enjoyed an outstanding career as a full-time amateur golfer, coupled with a reputation for being one of the most exciting and aggressive players on the world amateur circuit in recent years. He was part of the Irish national team set up since he was sixteen years old and has enjoyed success not only in the most prestigious Irish amateur tournaments, but also in major amateur golf events all over the world.

In 2003, Colm astounded the world amateur game by winning both the Australian (NSW) amateur stroke play and match play titles in New South Wales, Australia. This marked the first time that any player managed to win both titles in one season for almost 30 years. In September 2003, he achieved the highest accolade in world amateur golf when selected to play in the victorious Walker Cup team at Ganton Golf Club. This victory marked the first time that the Great Britain & Ireland team managed to win three Walker Cup titles in a row.

Leaving his highly distinguished amateur golf career on a high note, Colm turned professional at the end of 2003 began competing on the European Challenge Tour.

In 2005 showed his potential in the Nissan Irish Open on the European Tour, when he received a sponsors invite to play in the event and went on to finish in 13th place, with Padraig Harrington being the only Irish player to finish ahead of him. Colm had a number of impressive finishes on the Challenge Tour in the 2005 season, the highlight of which was second position in the Kazakhstan Open.

Colm played a combination of Challenge Tour and Europro Tour for the 2007 season. He began the year on a bright note, winning his first professional event, the Europro Tours Wensum Valley tournament at the beginning of May. Then came his first Challenge Tour victory, the First Plus Wales Challenge in July.

Unfortunately those wins were not enough to break back onto the main European Tour, Moriarty finishing 34th in the final 2007 Challenge Tour Rankings. In 2008, Colm finished 55th in the rankings during a disappointing season that had six top 20's, but only two top 10's.

After a slow start to the 2009 Challenge Tour season, Colm produced many consistent performances, missing only 2 cuts from his final 14 events. Only one of these, however, would result in a top-10, and Moriarty finished 52nd on the Order of Merit. Despite a good effort at Tour School, Colm unfortunately missed the four-round cut mark and has played The Challenge Tour again in 2010.

This season Moriarty qualified for the 150th Open Championship where he finished in 37th place on one under in very difficult conditions and also notched up two top ten finishes on the Challenge Tour - ALLIANZ Golf Open du Grand Toulouse and Fred Olsen Challenge de España.

Moriarty is currently in 42nd place in the Challenge Tour Rankings with the last event at the Apulia San Domenico Grand Final this week in Iyaly set to decide the top 20 places that offer European Tour exemptions for the 2011 season.

Fact File

Date of Birth: June 12th, 1979
lace of Birth: Dublin, Ireland

Attachment: Glasson Golf Hotel & Country Club

Turned Pro 2003 (plus 5)

Qualifying School (2001), (02), (03), 04, 05, (06), 07, (08), 09

Profile - David Higgins

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David Higgins is a multiple winner of Race to Mount Juliet in recent years, and added the Irish PGA Championship to his trophy list in 2012.

Having won the Irish PGA Order of Merit on numerous occasions Higgins was fulfilling the promise gained from being part of a golfing family as his Father, Liam, is a veteran of the European Tour and Senior Tour.

Not surprisingly by the time David was twenty-one he was the country's leading amateur, and following match play victories over Pádraig Harrington in the South of Ireland and the Irish Amateur Close championships - he decided to turn professional in 1994.

In his Rookie season in 1996 Higgins earned £67,000 finishing just inside the top 100 on the Order of Merit. The following year he broke his left wrist and right elbow in a horse riding accident and failed to rediscover his form on his return to the game dropping down to the Challenge Tour in 1999.

In 2000 Higgins won three times on the Challenge Tour and was ranked 2nd at the end of the season earning his playing rights back on the European Tour for the following season.

Having been unable to make the breakthrough over a few years Higgins returned to the Challenge Tour in 2005 finishing 12th - earning playing rights for the European Tour once again.

However Higgins lost his card at the end of 2007.

In 2009 he qualified for The Open Championship in Turnberry and in winning the Irish PGA Order of Merit earned a place at the 3 Irish Open and the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth - failing to make the cut at all three events.

But in recent seasons David has remained a consistent force on the Irish PGA Region, winning five times - including the Quinn Insurance Pro Am and a second place at the Southern Championship in Powerscourt behind Eamonn Darcy in 2010.

Although he failed to qualify for the 150th Open Championship at St Andrew's, along with a bigger disappointment in the September when he failed to make it through European Tour Qualifying School Stage 1 at Dundonald Links that same year.

In 2011 at Stage 3 of European Tour Qualifying School at the PGA Catalunya the Waterville professional man missed out once again on a quick return to the main Tour

But in 2012 he came back stronger and improved on his two previous outings at the BMW PGA Championship, ending a magnificent performance at a sun kissed Wentworth Course, with a two under par final round 70, and slaying a tough West Course that over four days had taken a number of high profile Irish casualties.

None less than the World Number One, Rory McIlroy, the 2011 Open Champion Darren Clarke, the 2010 US Open Champion, Graeme McDowell and three time major winner Padraig Harrington.

Amidst all that carnage though Higgins exuded composure travelling around Wentworth with a remarkable consistency and carding three rounds of 70, with only the one blip on a windy Saturday when reaching the historic Gothic clubhouse in a two over par 74

In was his third consecutive appearance at the BMW PGA Championship with Higgins slaying his own demons on the Sunday to finish in tenth place.

Higgins then crowned the year by capturing the Irish PGA championship at Mount Juliet and underlined his ranking as the number one player after he beat assistant professional Noel Murray from Massereene in a play-off.

The Waterville man, who fired a best of the day final round of five-under-par 67 to reach the play-off, said it was the fulfilment of a boyhood dream to lift the trophy that his father Liam lifted in 1983.

"I remember looking at the trophy as a young lad and saying it would be lovely to win it.I tried for a long time to win it and did it today and I'm just delighted."

In July David Higgins narrowly missed out on qualifying for the British Open after his five-under was one shot short of the qualifying mark at St Annes Old, with former Ryder Cup pair Barry Lane and Paul Broadhurst, both squeezing in.

However on the PGA Catalunya's Stadium Course, Higgins signed for a final round 70 to earn one of the most cherished of prizes - one of the 25 automatic places - and made a return to the European Tout five years after losing his card.

In 2013 a second place finish at the Open D'Italia Lindt gave him Higgins late hope of an automatic place for next year, in what was a very disappointing season with too many missed cuts. Including the Irish open at Carton House and the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth.

At 115th he could miss out unless Higgins can cards a big week in Perth.

Personal Fact File

DOB: December 1st 1972 in County Cork.

Attachment: Waterville GC

Career:

1989Irish Boys Championship

1994 Irish Amateur Closed Championship, South of Ireland Championship

European Challenge Tour

2000 NCC Open;

Günther Hamburg Classic

Rolex Trophy

European Tour
2007 loses Tour card
2012 Qualifies for 2013 season after finishing T16th

Star Cast at Dubai Duty Free Irish Open

The success of the 2015 Dubai Duty Free Irish Open Hosted by the Rory Foundation - the first Irish Open sponsored by Dubai Duty Free - plus record prize money for this year's championship, has tempted a star-studded cast to The K Club in County Kildare from May 19-22.

Led by reigning Masters Champion Danny Willett, the field includes eight Major champions among 12 top-50 players in the Official World Golf Ranking. Rory McIlroy heads up the Irish contingent of Major champions, which includes 2007 Irish Open Champion Padraig Harrington, Darren Clarke and Graeme McDowell, with Germany’s Martin Kaymer, Korea’s Y.E. Yang and South Africa’s Trevor Immelman making up one of the strongest fields in the tournament’s history.

Colm McLoughlin, Executive Vice Chairman of Dubai Duty Free, said: “The terrific inaugural tournament at Royal County Down last year, plus the fact that the Rory Foundation will continue to host the event was central to our decision to extend our sponsorship to 2018.

“We are also pleased that as a result of our sponsorship commitment, The European Tour has announced an increase in prize money from €2,500,000 to €4million, making it one of the highest purses on the 2016 Race to Dubai and very appealing for international players to participate.

The staging of the tournament at The K Club, which has recently undergone a major expansion, is another positive. With all these things combined, we are looking forward to a great event.

“By sponsoring the Irish Open it lifts the significance of the event considerably. At last year’s event it felt to me a bit like the re-birth of the tournament, with Dubai Duty Free and the Rory Foundation behind it. Having been without a title sponsor for a number of years it’s been a great boost for the event. The Dubai Duty Free brand is well recognised around the world and we certainly have a global reach. We believe that being involved in golf, is a good thing, particularly with golf being one of Ireland’s biggest attractions.”

McIlroy said: “The support we had last year from all our on-going sponsors, including fellow Dubai sponsorsEmirates Airline and Jumeirah Golf Estates, fans, volunteers and Royal County Down with a ‘sell-out’ tournament, attracting more than 100,000 spectators was incredible. It exceeded all expectations. I’ve got a good relationship with Colm McLoughlin and Dubai Duty Free and I’ve got a long-standing history with Dubai. I’ve got to know Colm over the years just by playing tournaments in the UAE. With our Foundation being involved it aligned very well with their charitable Foundation. It just seemed like a good fit.

“I was absolutely delighted when Colm and Dubai Duty Free came on board. They have a great sponsorship history in the Middle East and in Ireland and England, and the association has given the tournament that extra kudos. Coming together to benefit the lives of young people can only be a good thing. The other important thing for me is that I can learn a lot from Colm and his extensive experience doing charitable work.

“I would like to thank Colm McLoughlin and Keith Pelley, Chief Executive of The European Tour for supporting my vision to develop the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open Hosted by the Rory Foundation into one of the leading events on The European Tour’s schedule, over the next three years. I am sure The K Club, celebrating the 25th anniversary of the club and their 10th anniversary as host of the 2006 Ryder Cup, and having held 11 European Opens, will be an excellent venue for the 2016 Irish Open.”

McLoughlin was equally impressed by Rory’s efforts with the tournament: “Rory has done a remarkable job in attracting the top golfers to play in the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open and bringing his Foundation into the mix has been a great initiative.”

Keith Pelley said: “The Irish Open is one of the most prestigious and most eagerly anticipated tournaments on The Race to Dubai, and having two powerful global brands in Dubai Duty Free and Rory McIlroy supporting the event as well as a record prize fund, will ensure that continues. We are delighted that Dubai Duty Free have pledged themselves to the tournament through until 2018 and we thank them for their continued commitment and vision, not just to the Irish Open but to The European Tour as a whole.

5/16/2016

Profile - Colm Moriarty

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