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Colm Moriarty enjoyed a stunning return to the Challenge Tour, after a nine-month sabbatical, at the Scottish Hydro Challenge hosted by Macdonald Hotels and Resorts, where he is just four shots off the lead going into the weekend.
The Athlone man admitted that he had become disillusioned with the game after nine seasons on the Challenge Tour attempting to make the breakthrough to The European Tour.
However, he has returned fresh and hungry for success and Moriarty is right in contention for a second Challenge Tour title at Macdonald Spey Valley Golf Club after carding a superb six under par round of 65 to climb to eight under for the tournament and four shots off the lead set by Sweden’s Jens Dantorp.
“I was hitting it pretty close all day and I had quite a few chances,” said the 34 year old. “You are not going to get the course out there any easier. Once you drive the ball straight on the tricky holes you are going to create a lot of chances on the other holes if you are playing well.
"I do feel a lot better this week coming back. I probably have a different perspective or attitude. When you do anything for a long time you get a bit institutionalised, it gets a bit mundane, week in, week out when you are not playing well and not enjoying it and I definitely feel a bit different now.
"I just was not enjoying it last year and I decided to hang up the clubs for a while. I played very little golf for six months. I played one game a month, maybe, and I did not do any practice until two weeks ago. I got married, which took up a fair bit of my time too!
“I got an invite for this week and thankfully I played quite nicely. It has been nice out there, it is lovely up here when the weather is nice.”