No slacking in this secondary school

Challenge Tour: While Ireland's golfing hopes weigh heavy on the shoulders of two of the world's most accomplished players in Padraig Harrington and Darren Clarke, the country's next generation of stars could well emerge from one of the toughest schools in the sport.

This tour offers arguably the best and most diverse education anywhere in the game. Already this season, the secondary tour has visited Costa Rica, Guatemala, Panama, Kenya and Zambia before arriving in Egypt last weekend, and this week finally reaches Europe with the Peugeot Challenge de Leon in Spain.

The Irish were well represented in Egypt, and, as they honed their swings on the practice range at the foot of Mount Sinai, four of them - Dubliner Stephen Browne, Belfast's Michael Hoey, Offaly's Justin Kehoe and Colm Moriarty from Athlone - discussed their hopes as they look to secure a place in the top 15 of the 2004 Challenge Tour rankings, the reward for which is a place on the European Tour.

Peter Lawrie finally achieved that dream of a full tour place after a wonderful year on the Challenge Tour in 2002, when he cemented his season with victory in the season-ending Challenge Tour Grand Final.

Browne is the first to mention Lawrie, but all agree the 30-year-old Dubliner is the perfect example of what can be achieved if you can marry skill and determination with guts and fortitude on the Challenge Tour.

"This is my third year on the Challenge Tour and I think the time is right for me to really make an impression this year," said Browne, a former European amateur champion.

"You have to finish pretty high on the leaderboard to make any significant impact on the rankings. You'd probably need to be in the top five places at least five or six times in the season to make an impact. That's the next step for me. Peter (Lawrie) is the best example for us to follow.

"He was out here for three years and when he made it in 2002 he had four top-10s before he won the last event of the season to guarantee his card. Peter is also walking proof of the fact the Challenge Tour will serve you well as an apprenticeship - he hasn't looked back since making it to the top level.

"The fact we're all over the world helps. You get used to different courses and different kind of grass and things like that. For example, we play a lot on Bermuda greens which I still find difficulty to read putts on, but I heard Phil Mickelson recently saying he still struggles on those surfaces so there's hope for me yet!"

Hoey and Moriarty had their 15 minutes of fame as Walker Cup winners - Hoey in 2001 and Moriarty last season. On the Challenge Tour, they've quickly realised how much it takes to turn 15 minutes in the amateur spotlight into 15 years on the professional circuit.

"I think the Challenge Tour makes you find out how much you want to get to the top level. It can be so tough that if you don't have that genuine desire to make it then you're not going to, it's as simple as that," claimed Hoey.

Moriarty, having only turned professional after his Walker Cup success last September, will be happy to consolidate his position this season but is in no doubt about where he wants to be.

"The Challenge Tour is the best way onto the European Tour, but it's a tough school. The cut every week goes from 156 players to 60 after two rounds and the scoring is generally very low. It's a pretty steep learning curve for me.

"I would be happy to find my feet here and try to play as many events as I can in the hope of guaranteeing a full Challenge Tour season next year. Obviously, the ultimate goal is to get to the top of the game, but to do so you need to be playing regularly on the main tour."

Kehoe, at 24, is the youngest of the four Irishmen cutting his teeth on the Challenge Tour, but showcased his talents in Egypt last weekend where he tied for 12th place with an aggregate score of eight under par.

Kehoe, Hoey, Browne and David Higgins are all entered for this week's Leon Challenge in Spain.

Michael Gibbons is Media Officer with the European Challenge Tour