Druids works its magic to revive McHenry's career

The army of supporters - appropriately labelled "the Cork murphia" - had picked up new recruits along the way, many of them with broader and sharper tongues than the gentle Leeside lilt and one or two with the giveaway, telltale sign of Arnotts jerseys adorning their chests. But, on this day, one man was the object of their devotion; and John McHenry's renaissance as a professional golfer was completed at Druids Glen with all the self-belief of someone who knew exactly where his destiny lay.

"A weight off my shoulders? It's a colossal weight lifted," grinned McHenry, the player with no status, pondering just what a cheque for £53,996, his prize for a tied-third place finish in the Irish Open, looks like, but needing no imagination to work out its implications.

Four days playing golf in the Wicklow hills had changed the direction of his career, and one of his first actions was to fax the Canadian Tour office with the news that he wouldn't be back across the Atlantic in the immediate future. "No doubt I'll be fined, which would probably make me the first player to come off the Canadian circuit with a net loss," said McHenry, who had fine-tuned his game for his competitive return to Ireland by missing the cut in all four Canadian outings and earning "precisely nothing" on that mini-tour. Despite the dismal showings it was his intention to return there for an event in Toronto this week. That was the plan.

McHenry walked off the 18th green at Druids a new man (and with a whole new future ahead of him), yet with the same smile that had only occasionally deserted him during a pressure-laden final round. "Put it there, John," shouted the teenager with a distinctly Dublin brogue, straining over the metal barrier. In McHenry's way, however, stood someone of greater importance, his wife Sylvia, who had supported his decision to give his career one last throw of the dice by playing in Canada. A quick embrace, then hand-in-hand, they walked toward's the recorder's portacabin for him to pencil his name onto the most important card of his professional life.

That final signature ensured McHenry's place in the field - as a top-10 finisher - for the Loch Lomond World Invitational this week, and left the 34-year-old Corkman with the sort of prize money that puts him within touching distance of securing his tour card for 1999. "Hopefully, I can now get invitations to play in some more tournaments in Europe this season," said McHenry.

McHenry knows all about getting sponsor's invitations. Last May, he walked into the office of Murphy's Cork headquarters and "literally got down on my knees" to ask Marien Kakebeeke, the company's managing director, for the right to play in Druids Glen. It was central to his season, and his career. Yesterday, the Dutchman who said yes joined the army of supporters on the sixth fairway to view what he termed McHenry's "fantastic" effort.

"I'd set myself a goal of a final round 68, a realistic target to win the tournament," said McHenry. "But I didn't drive the ball wonderfully well and, with the wind swirling around, it became necessary to grind out a result."

Standing on the 10th tee-box, McHenry had covered the front nine in level par. Seven players in the field ahead of him had ploughed into the tree that reigns supreme on the left-handside of the fairway, and McHenry put it slightly "too right" into a bad lie in the rough and then sent the approach into a bunker. Another bogey came at the 14th, where his sand iron approach out of rough went through the back of the green and McHenry had dropped back to three-under-par and his name on the leaderboards dotted around the course dropped down to seventh.

On the 15th, he again found the tiger rough. "I was lucky to even get a shot out," he later confessed. However, he put his third shot to within 10 feet and sank the putt for a "vitally important" par and produced a tap-in birdie on the next.

A steady par-par finish enabled him to share third place with his playing partner Peter Baker, and ensured the plane ticket to Canada would be cancelled. Instead, McHenry will play the regional qualifying at Baltray today and then head off to Loch Lomond for another taste of European Tour golf. "For a guy who was wondering what his future was three or four months ago, I now know I'm going in the right direction," he said.

It may have been a long time coming, after a professional career spanning 11 years, but, on the evidence of Druids Glen, things are finally looking up.