GOLF: SOMETIMES, YOU'VE got to watch the quiet ones. Yesterday, as noisy fanfare accompanied every swish of those who'd earned Major wins, Colm Moriarty – playing on a sponsor's exemption – walked with diligence inside the ropes and did his job.
In the end, he signed for a first round 67, four under, and calmly observed it was “nothing out of the ordinary”. You don’t shout from the rooftops on the first day.
Playing in the group immediately ahead of Rory McIlroy, with an overflow of that gallery gradually mushrooming, 32-year-old Moriarty emerged as the leading Irish player.
Why should we be surprised? The Athlone man has always had talent, going back to playing on a winning Walker Cup team at Ganton, and has always had a great work ethic. Yet, he has spent the vast majority of his eight years as a professional on the Challenge Tour. Why isn’t he on the main tour? You really and truly wonder.
Moriarty’s own take on his status, ranked 536th in the world, is typically frank. “Simple, I suppose: I haven’t got the results. There are no excuses, you have to be able to produce it on the lower level as well, which I haven’t been able to do. I’ve been working hard and, hopefully, I can break through (and win a full tour card).
“I don’t feel I can do any more than I am doing. I enjoy playing in these big events with the big crowds, I feel comfortable out here. But the challenge for me is to get out here week in and week out.”
Moriarty’s willingness to work hard is exemplified by regular trips – a la Harrington – over to Largs on the west coast of Scotland to Bob Torrance. “We’ve put in a lot of cold winter days’ work in Largs, all good,” said Glasson’s touring professional.
“We’re just trying to tighten up my swing, to take my hands out and use my body more. It is a work in progress.”
Yesterday morning, Moriarty was on the driving range at 6.30am with Torrance.
Although his main commitment is to the Challenge Tour, these forays on to the main tour must be grabbed. Indeed, his career-high pay cheque remains the €30,100 for tied-13th in the 2005 Irish Open.
With 17-year-old Feargal O’Shea on his bag – “I was going to get a professional caddie, I don’t have one every week, but he’s a young local lad and very enthusiastic” – Moriarty started with a birdie, hitting his approach wedge shot to a matter of inches, and that got him off on the right foot.
As he later admitted, “I don’t think four-under flattered me, but that doesn’t mean I am going to play well (on Friday). I’ll just go out with no expectations. If I play the way I have for the next three days, there is no reason it won’t go well.”
