As a rookie, he had a lot of zeros behind his name when he started out on the US Tour season back in January. Tournaments entered - 0; top-10 finishes - 0; in the money - 0. Not a lot has changed since Keith Nolan embarked on the road as a professional. The number of zeros have increased, but not by quite as much as he would like. Being one of the new kids on the block is proving to be a tough deal.
Nolan has pocketed some $30,000 in prize money from the four cuts he has survived on the toughest circuit in world golf. He needs the zero count to increase to five (with another number in front) if he is to retain his card for next season. But, like the song, Keith Nolan, aged 24, with a degree in speech communications from East Tennessee State in his back pocket, has no regrets.
Some would assert that he may have been better off learning his professional trade on the European Tour, a la Glen Day or Corey Pavin, or toughening up on the Nike Tour, the way guys called David Duval and Tom Lehman did, before jumping in with the big fish.
Nolan doesn't agree.
"It's a big step to play at such a high level (on the US Tour)," admitted Nolan, who has returned to familiar terrain this week to make his European professional debut at Druids Glen, "but I am not one to second guess any decision I have made. I believe it was the right one."
The former Walker Cup player put all his eggs into one basket by chasing his US Tour dream. It paid off. But the path thus far hasn't been paved with gold, so Nolan, from down the road in Bray, is seeking some solace from a brief return home.
"I haven't been playing well," he conceded, honestly, "certainly not near as well as I'd like. I'm just not putting well, but I hope it will come good here."
Nolan refuses to blame the tool, though, preferring to take the responsibility himself. As such, the same Ping Derby putter that has been in his bag for the past "four or five months" stays there for the journey around Druids Glen where, in his amateur days, he was afforded the courtesy of the course and its practice facilities.
"It would be too easy to simply blame the putter," he said. "But I've put in more practice on the greens and it seems to be coming good. I've stayed faithful to it and hopefully I'm coming out of the rough patch. There are a bunch of tournaments to go yet."
Nolan sees his professional future in the States, and he is determined to succeed there. One of the reasons that the two-time Irish Amateur strokeplay champion saw his future across the Atlantic was the way he coped with the so-called American big-guns in collegiate golf. "I knew that I could compete with their top guys and, once I got through the tour school, I knew that's where I wanted to play," he said.
Few players, however, make the jump immediately. Tiger Woods, to a great extent, has been the exception, but others, like Lehman and Duval, found the preferred route came on the hard graft of the Nike Tour.
Indeed, Nolan's best professional finish was 13th in a Nike Tour at the end of last season, shortly after switching to the paid ranks after an honour-laden amateur career that concluded with Walker Cup representative honours last August.
His best show in his rookie season, though, was 47th in the Houston Open - "and I three-putted the last two greens," he grimaces - although he also has the unfinished Pebble Beach Pro-Am to complete in August.
Nolan returns home to Tennessee on Monday and flies out to Chicago on Tuesday for the Quad City Classic at the Oakwood Country Club, a stretch of five tournaments that also takes in the Deposit Guaranty, CVS Charity, St Jude Classic and Buick Open, and then the conclusion of the Pebble Beach tournament where he is placed for a potentially good payday with just one round to complete.
His plans for later that week are a bit up in the air. The European Open is on at the K Club, but Nolan would have to make the journey from the west coast with the likelihood of arriving in Ireland only on the Wednesday, the eve of the event. So, if he manages to get into the Sprint International in Castle Rock, he may opt for that instead.
This week, however, Nolan's eyes are focussed on a good run on a course he knows well. Indeed, as the local lad - along with Eamonn Darcy - he can expect terrific support. "You need to drive the ball straight, to make sure you hit the fairways," he insisted.
As an amateur, he played in two Irish Opens: at Mount Juliet in 1994, when he made the cut and then flew out to Denmark where he was part of the winning Irish team at the European Youths championship, and two years ago at Druids Glen. "The only target I have set myself this week is to play well, to make the cut and do well. I believe I can."
