Irish Open invitation gives Hoey a break

EUROPEAN TOUR/News round-up: Recognising a good thing when they see it, Murphy's, as title sponsors of the Irish Open, have been quick to extend an invite to Ireland's newest touring professional Michael Hoey, last year's British Amateur champion.

The 23-year-old Belfast man - who made a satisfactory start to life on tour when finishing tied-32nd in the B&H International Open at The Belfry - is entitled to seven invites to play on the full tour this year and, although he had requested an invite to play at Fota Island on June 27th-30th, the confirmation which came yesterday will take some of the strain away from waiting and wondering where he will be playing over the summer.

Hoey's next outing will come in next week's Memorial Tournament on the US Tour. He received a personal invitation from tournament promoter Jack Nicklaus. "I enjoyed the B&H but found it very tiring, mentally rather than physically. There's a big difference to playing in a professional event as a professional because, no matter how hard you try, it creeps into your mind that you are playing for your living.

"However, I definitely learned from the experience and know that it is important to just make good swings and play my normal game, the same as when I was an amateur."

Much of this week will be spent doing "beach work and gym work" as the player adjusts to the demands of his professional life, but it remains to be seen if his impressive debut on tour will result in a flood of invites.

While Murphy's have broken with customary procedure to issue an early invite to Hoey, there was also confirmation yesterday that Lee Westwood, who hasn't played in the Irish Open since 1999, will be competing in Cork. Of the winners on the European Tour so far this season, Justin Rose (Dunhill championship), Richard Johnson (ANZ Championship), Arjun Atwal (Singapore Masters), Alastair Forsyth (Malaysian Open), Diego Borrego (Madeira Island Open), Carl Pettersson (Portugese Open) and Malcolm Mackenzie (French Open) have all committed to playing in an event that will mark the final tournament as title sponsors for Murphy's.

Meanwhile, Shigeki Maruyama - known as "The Smilin' Assassin" - won the Byron Nelson Classic on the US Tour on Sunday, his second tour win. He heads to this week's MasterCard Colonial aiming to become the first player since Ben Hogan in 1946 to win both Dallas tournaments in one year.

Maruyama shot a closing round of two-under-par 68 for a 72-hole total of 266, two strokes clear of rookie professional Ben Crane. "This makes me very pleased, but I am still looking for higher achievements. Although I am smiling a lot, this doesn't mean that my heart is smiling. Japanese people tend to be very humbler. I am hiding the real goal in my heart," he said.

The key to his win was that Maruyama only had 25 putts in his final round, and 106 in all.

Crane's eagle-birdie-par finish earned him $518,000 for second place and his card for next year.

There was also another good showing from Bryce Molder, who is attempting to earn sufficient money to give him a category allowing him unlimited invites on the tour. Molder, a member of last year's losing US Walker Cup team, took $46,080 for 22nd place, which took his season's earnings to $158,580 from his four tournament appearances. He needs to win $121,297 from his remaining three invites to earn exemption for the rest of the season.

In earning $326,000 for third place, Tiger Woods broke the $3million barrier in earnings for the fourth successive year.

Ireland's Keith Nolan resumes playing on the Buy.Com Tour this week in the Carolina Classic.