Pro Tour is a whole new ball game

TEE TO GREEN:It's been a slow start to Niall Kearney's first season in the professional ranks and recent surgery on his shoulder has not helped his cause

THE START of my first season in the professional ranks has been something of a slow burner as I’ve only played four events and having to undergo surgery on my shoulder in January didn’t help.

I teed it up in Madeira last week but just didn’t get it going and missed the cut; it was sloppy golf to be honest. The venue at Porto Santo is a shocking place to get to and a lot of waiting around airports.

Coming back I ended up staying overnight in Lisbon before eventually getting back to Dublin last Saturday, just an awkward place to get to and a bit of hassle.

My game has been rusty since the surgery and it’s been a slow process getting back up to speed after the highs at the end of last year when I played Walker Cup then went straight to Tour School and turned professional after the final stage in November.

The injury was a shoulder decompression and basically they cleaned it out, shaved a bit off the bone and smoothed things over. It’s a fairly routine job but it kept me out for six weeks.

There’s no doubt it’s a difficult transition from the amateur ranks to becoming a tour professional. The Walker Cup standard is similar but there is a big difference from top amateur events compared to tour events.

It’s a step up, the courses are much tougher – longer and tighter – and the playing standard is obviously higher with so much strength and depth in the field every week.

I’ve found the biggest challenge is simply putting four good rounds together, there’s no margin for error and you must keep the big numbers off the card. Every aspect of your game is challenged and there is no hiding place.

The other problem is not knowing if I’ll get into certain tournaments off my category 14 on the main European Tour. To be honest it’s lastminute.com stuff finding out if you’re in an event or not.

I have a strong category on the Challenge Tour so that will be my main focus for the season and that’s where I’ll try to win my main card for next season.

My first professional event was the Africa Open in January but I missed the cut. The following week I played the Joburg Open, shot two under but missed by one, then I played a Challenge Tour event in Kenya a couple of weeks ago and missed out again with more rusty golf. You just have to keep moving on and hope it all clicks at the next event.

Getting funding to play on tour isn’t easy either, especially in the current climate. I’ve signed with Horizon Sports Management and they’re trying to muster bits and pieces of sponsorship for me.

I received a €15,000 grant from the Irish Sports Council, and sponsorship from accounting firm Grant Thornton is the basis of my financial backing at the moment.

On average it costs around €2,000 to play each week, it’s not cheap and you better be picking up some cheques along the way. This year I’m really just trying to cover my expenses.

I’m learning all the time and trying to gain as much experience as I can. I’m still only 22 and hopefully it’s all still ahead of me.

My coach, Charlie McGoldrick, is based over in Enniscrone and I’ll probably see him this week before heading off to Morocco on Sunday.

We have a family house over there so I often head over for a couple of days and get some decent coaching work done there.

I don’t get caught up too much on the technical side of the game, and instead focus on how to get the ball from A to B and let it happen on the course. Generally I have a very consistent game and that should stand me in good stead.

The main thing at the moment is working on getting my confidence back and my game back to the level where it was at Tour School. It has just taken a little more time than we thought it would (after surgery) but that’s all part of the process.

I live in the Raheny/Clontarf area and still do a lot of my practice at Royal Dublin when I’m home – as long as the weather isn’t too bad. The facilities at the GUI Academy in Carton House are great too.

I’ve had plenty of down time up to now and enjoyed watching the Masters but Morocco starts a three-week stint after which I’ll head on to Turkey and then France.

That’s the plan; three weeks playing, one week off through the season. It’s great to finally get a stretch of tournaments because hopefully I can get a bit of a run at it and build some momentum.