Gribben targets professional life once more

Paddy Gribben didn't want to go through life wondering, "what if . . .?" So, despite one failed professional career etched onto his sporting curriculum vitae, the 30-year-old Ulsterman felt he owed it to himself - and his family - to try another shot at life on the circuit.

Which is why, just two days after the greatest day of his amateur career, Gribben, who on Sunday played a key role in aiding Britain and Ireland to Walker Cup success for only the fifth time in 37 attempts, will try to start a second career in the paid ranks.

In the unlikely environs of the Woodbury Park course in Exeter - one of five venues playing host to the European Tour Pre-Qualifying I, the first step on the road to final qualifying in Spain next November - Gribben will give himself that second chance. "It is something I have to do," he explained. "I am a far more mature person now than the one who turned professional early, too early, in my career. And I'm a far better player too."

Gribben, who was re-instated as an amateur two years ago after his first unsuccessful stint as a professional, has used that time wisely. "Basically, I knuckled down and changed my lifestyle," he said. "I have a wife, Anne, who fully supports me, and a wee child. I'd have wondered what I had missed out on if I didn't give myself another opportunity on tour."

As he sets out in pursuit of that new professional career, Gribben at least does so with a magnificent amateur pedigree. Unlike his first foray into the paid ranks, which occurred when he hadn't even won an international cap for Ireland, this time round he is a hardened competitor: last year he won the European individual amateur title and was part of the four-man Britain and Ireland team that won the Eisenhower Trophy (world team championship).

Some 18 Irish players will be competing in PQI today and tomorrow, but Gribben is the only one playing at Woodbury Park. The reason why he opted for the south-west of England is because his caddie Gerry McStay, who served him so admirably in Nairn, taught there for four years, knows the course intimately, and reckons that it is one that will suit Gribben's game.

Of the 10-man Walker Cup-winning team, only three are attending PQI. Apart from Gribben, two Scotttish players - Lorne Kelly and Graham Rankin - will be in action in the qualifying stages. Whatever about Kelly, who was dropped entirely from any involvement in Sunday's play by captain Peter McEvoy, Rankin and Gribben emerge with their confidence sky-high. After losing his first six Walker Cup matches, going back to Portchawl in 1995 and also including Quaker Ridge two years ago, Rankin finally broke his duck, in emphatic fashion, on Sunday when winning both his matches.

And Gribben emerged from his debut Walker Cup with the satisfaction, and no mean feat, of taking one and a half points out of his two singles matches. Among his conquests was a resounding win in Sunday's singles over Hunter Haas, the current US Public Links champion and a US amateur semi-finalist this year who is expected to move onto greater things in the professional game.

One of the main reasons, it must be said, for the success of the Britain and Ireland team was the captaincy of McEvoy. In the build-up, he had insisted that his team "as the best, deserved the best" and kitted them out with cashmere sweaters, stylish shirts and personalised golf bags.

"When you get in a team there are relatively few ways you can emphasise the importance of what you are doing," he said.

"One way is to give practical manifestation of the value of the team through nice cloths and bags. It is just trying to make people feel important and know it is a privilege to play," he added.

However, his powers of motivation were also an important factor and he will again be in charge of the team's defence for the 2001 match at Ocean Forest in South Carolina.

"If you keep your nose clean, you usually get a second go at it," said McEvoy. He has done more than that, and one suspects the job is his for as long as he wants it.

Meanwhile, another Irish amateur international, Gary Cullen, will also be competing in the PQI over the next two days. He delayed a decision to do so last year in order to chase a place on Ireland's European championship team and, objective achieved, the Beaverstown player is now pursuing his dream.

While Gribben is the sole Irishman competing at Woodbury Park, Cullen is one of 10 playing at Carden Park where he is joined by Peter Lawrie, James Loughnane, Raymond Burns, Leslie Walker, Francis Howley, John Dwyer, Chris Moriarty, Kieran McCarthy and John Langan. Damian Mooney is playing at Chart Hills, while Richie Coughlan, Bryan Omelia and Sean Quinlivan are competing at Five Lakes. The trio of Graham Spring, Jim Carville and Conor Mallon are in action at Wynyard.

The successful players will progress to the final qualifying school at San Roque in November.