In Focus/Europro Tour: Paul Gallagher talks to Ireland's representatives on the Europro Tour, the third-tier series they hope will propel them to golf's biggest stages.
The lure of professional golf should not be under-estimated, especially given the potential riches on offer at the top table. Making that first step into the paid ranks is often the most difficult one, but that's what Bryan Smyth, a 28-year-old former Irish Boys' International, has decided to do as he takes his first fledgling steps via the PGA Europro Tour.
The Europro Tour is the brainchild of Peter Little and was formed in 1998. He is the chief executive and equal partner with sports promoter Barry Hearn. On the landscape of professional tours in this part of Europe it ranks as something of a third tier, 22-event tour behind the bright lights of the European Tour and closer to what is on offer on the Challenge Tour.
"I see our tour as a training ground for anyone who can't get onto the European and Challenge Tours," explains Little.
"It's a training ground number one, and as a feeder tour it has been considered third tier but really it's on a level, if not bigger than the Challenge Tour," he added, making reference to the comparative prize money on offer and the television coverage it commands.
"We get 98 hours television coverage (via Sky Sports) a year, whereas the Challenge Tour is considerably less than that," noted Little. That said, the Challenge Tour has one obvious advantage in that the top 15 players on its order of merit are awarded cards to the main Tour, whereas the top five players on the Europro Tour only get onto the Challenge Tour.
Putting aside the nit picking, the fact is that with so many young players spilling into the professional game in recent years, the Europro Tour emerged due to phenomenal demand.
"In March, we had 218 young players turn professional to play in the Europro Tour School, that's 218 new names that need catering for," explains Little.
Beyond that, it is also worth considering the huge number of journeymen pros already plying their trade around the world on minor tours in the hope of one day breaking into the big time.
"We provide a platform for these guys to see if the they can stand on their own two feet and make a living out of playing. They will soon learn if they can compete under pressure and in front of the cameras," adds Little.
Tim Rice is one of 27 Irish professionals registered on the Europro Tour and the Limerick golfer chalked up his first professional win in the third event of the season in Portugal.
Rice won the Casinos Algarve-Quinta da Ria Masters after a closing 65, for a 12-under, three-round aggregate forced a play-off with England's Lee Slattery. "I was fortunate enough when playing the first play-off hole - the 18th was played twice. I made a fighting par by holing from 15 feet to take it to the next, and the second time round I made par when Lee bogeyed," said Rice, who went on to lift the £12,000 winner's cheque.
The 28-year-old paid homage to Jimmy Ballard, a semi-retired coach based in Key Largo, Florida who has coached the likes of Johnny Miller and Gary Player since he started out in the 1960s, for getting his game back into shape.
"I went over to see Jimmy six weeks ago and this win is all down to him. He got me thinking more simply, whereas before I was tying myself up in knots with so many different swing thoughts," said Rice, who now has a renewed belief after his win. He and Dubliner Eamonn Brady are the only Irishmen, to date, to have won on the Europro Tour.
Brady won his first professional tournament in the Myrtle Beach Open playing on the Canadian Tour in 2001. The following year he turned his attention to the Europro Tour and won twice, the first at Whitekirk and again in the Isle of Man. By the end of the 2002 season Brady finished second on the order of merit and subsequently gained his full playing rights to the Challenge Tour last year.
Other Irishmen on the Europro scene include the likes of former Walker Cup players Colm Moriarty and Paddy Gribben. Moriarty turned pro after finishing his amateur career on a high as part of the Britain and Ireland team who won the Walker Cup for an unprecedented third consecutive time last year. Gribben has already played the tour and enjoyed several top 10 finishes.
Damian Mooney has been one of the most prolific winners on the Irish PGA circuit in recent years and finished fourth in the Irish Championship behind winner Padraig Harrington at St Margaret's, Dublin in April. Now, buoyed by a new sponsorship deal from Nevada Bobs, Mooney has been able to quit the teaching aspect of his profession and dedicate himself to playing full-time. He will get four European Tour starts this year, continue competing on the Irish circuit, and go in search of his first win on the Europro Tour. Mooney, like so many others, will use the Europro Tour as a springboard to, hopefully, bigger and better things.
In Smyth's case, he made the brave decision to down tools in his nine-to-five day job at the start of the year to focus all efforts on playing full-time. The "mundane" retail management job is now in the past as he looks forward to carving out a career from a game which had previously been a hobby for the first 28 years of his life.
The conventional path to professional golf tends to start much earlier than 28, and that's what makes Smyth's journey all the more intriguing. That said, this ex-Irish Boys' international (1993-94) is sure of his direction.
"To put it simply, life is too short and I wasn't happy in my job. The reason I wasn't happy was because I always felt I should have a crack at the golf," he said.
It's not as if Smyth and his wife of two years, Elaine, had the luxury of a stockpile to fall back on if his playing venture fell flat - far from it. He and Elaine discussed the prospect at length and decided now was still a good time to try the new venture.
"Really it was a good time in our lives to try it out, there are no children on the scene yet, and in the worst-case scenario the mortgage is covered in the short term," he explains.
"That said, we had to raise some capital from the house to get me started. That funded my initial travel and entry costs to the qualifying plus the first couple of events."
The 1999 Irish Close semi-finalist, where he lost to eventual winner Ciarán McMonagle, who is also registered on the Europro Tour these days, made it over the first hurdle as a professional at the qualifying stages.
Smyth tied 37th out of 95 starters at Forest Pines, Lincolnshire to ensure his passage into the 54-hole final stage at Bedford and Pavenham Golf Club. There he shot rounds of 75 and 72 to tie 124th from a field of 240 and narrowly missed the cut into the final round by a single shot. Had he done so, Smyth would have gained full playing rights for the season. However, as Little confirmed: "The likes of Bryan earned category 12 membership and that still guarantees him at least 19 out of the 22 tournaments."
Smyth worked out that it will cost him in the region of £750 to tee it up each week, taking into account the costly £275 entry fee per event, and travel and accommodation costs. With 15 events in England, three in Scotland, one in Portugal and three more yet to be confirmed, working out the logistics is an added pressure away from performing for a living on the course. There is no question the cost to play this tour is expensive but without playing rights elsewhere it is often the only option for many players.
"It is very expensive to play the Europro Tour but that's the risk you take if turning professional," added Rice. "You have to spend a lot of money to chase the dream. It's like me investing to go and see Jimmy (Ballard), I had to bite the bullet and get proper coaching. If you're going to play golf professionally you need top coaching in the hope of taking your game to a higher level where you can win enough money to make a living."
His winner's cheque from Portugal, alongwith the €7,000 grant he received from Team Ireland at the start of the year, will help ease financial headaches this season.
Given that the top cheque for a standard £40,000 Europro event is £10,000 - 15th place earns £600 - rising to £20,000 for a £75,000 event, Smyth and his contemporaries are all too aware of the need to finish at the business end of proceedings to make money or break even.
"My goal is to make the top 50 this season, that'll keep my card and ordinarily should mean I have made enough to cover my expenses. Anything outside that and your losing money," explains Smyth. "That said, this year is not a money-making exercise for me, it's all about the experience, given that I came into the professional game relatively late. If I get lucky some weeks, then who knows, I may also get to play a couple of Challenge Tour events."
The financial burden is commonplace among many of the players at this level, regardless of how they perform. Take little-known Irish professional Shane Franklin from Athenry. He finished joint winner in this year's final qualifying for the Europro Tour with rounds of 68, 66, 71 but barely has enough money to play the full season, given that it would cost in the region of £10,000 all in.
Franklin received some financial assistance from the Team Ireland fund but Little confirmed it was not enough. "Shane has no real amateur record to speak off but he's a great player and hopefully he can get some sponsorship to enable him to play all season," Little said.
Smyth's home club, Mourne, will hold a "Night at the Races" fund-raising event to assist their former scratch golfer's plight. "Hopefully that will raise a couple of thousand pounds but after that finding some form of sponsorship will be necessary given the cost outlay each week," he said.
Not that Smyth has had much time recently to think about a plan B if things don't transpire as he hopes, but just in case, he has looked at taking his PGA exams.
"I may be able to take them on a fast-track basis in two rather than three years, taking into account the retail experience I already have," he explained.
"That means I would be eligible to play in the Irish PGA events at home in Ireland, which isn't an option open to me right now."
Putting the finances to one side for a moment, Smyth and his peers have reason to be optimistic as they stare into a new season full of opportunity and possibilities. But it's only at the end, when success is judged by the amount of zeros in the bank account that counts. Only time will tell if turning professional at such a relatively late stage will bear fruit for Smyth. Either way his decision to do so should be admired.
EuroproTour/Irish contenders
Eoin Barton (category 12)
Eamonn Brady (3)
Raymond Burns (1)
Padraig Dooley (9)
Shane Franklin (3)
Patrick Geraghty (12)
Declan Glynn (12)
Paddy Gribben (1)
Nigel Howley (13)
David Jones (8)
Justin Kehoe (8)
Gavin Lunny (13)
Finbar Madden (12)
Gary Madden (12)
Michael McDermott (3)
Ciaran McMonagle (13)
Gavin McNeill (9)
Damian Mooney (3)
Chris Moriarty (8)
Colm Moriarty (8)
Darren Murphy (12)
James Nash (12)
Tim Rice (1)
Bryan Smyth (12)
Daniel Sugrue (12)
Barry Templeton (8)
Jim Ussher (13)
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