Learning to live at a higher level

He wouldn't exactly call it a phobia, but Paddy Gribben doesn't particularly like flying. He's working on it, though. As Gribben knows only too well, if you want to live the life of a tour player then it's pretty important to get over such an aversion.

For Gribben - who decided to chase his dream after last year's Walker Cup success and turned professional for a second time - the release of playing Ballybunion on a rare sponsor's invite has aided his recuperation from a couple of scary flying moments and breathed new life into his career.

Six weeks ago, with his flight taxiing on the runway for departure from Belfast Airport, he got a severe panic attack. "I got them to open the doors, and I got off the plane as quickly as I could," recalled Gribben, who can trace his fears back to a frightening episode almost 18 months ago on a trip back from Chile after winning the Eisenhower Trophy as part of the British and Irish team.

"As we were taking off the runway, the plane hit a bump and the wheels on the undercarriage locked into position. We spent three and a half hours flying around, off-loading aviation fuel, before undertaking a crash landing," said Gribben.

The best therapy, as far as Gribben is concerned, is to be playing good golf on a good links. "I've been working with sports psychologist Peter Dennison in the past few weeks and that's definitely helped me. I've even got on to two planes since that last incident. My confidence was affected and my golf suffered as a consequence, but I am getting over it," he said.

More days like yesterday would help. Gribben covered the front nine in a mere 30 strokes - including 14 putts - and when he had back-to-back birdies at the 10th and 11th, to go to eight under, he momentarily went joint leader of the tournament with fellow Irishman Philip Walton. "That sort of scared me, seeing my name up there on the leaderboard. I was wondering was it just a dream, was it really happening?" he said.

It was real alright. A couple of bogeys over the finishing holes, however, meant he eventually signed for a 67 and a six-under-par midway total of 136. "All I can do is take it day to day and do my best. I have no ranking and spend every week waiting by the phone for an invite to play somewhere or other. Most weeks, there is no phone call."

Ironically, there was a message on his answering machine yesterday informing him that he had received an invite to play in a Challenge Tour event in Finland next week. He may not need it. A top-10 finish here would put him into the Smurfit European Open at The K Club.