This year GCD is honoured to have five time European Tour winner Michael Hoey write his Tour diary. You can follow Mike on facebook here ...
This year GCD is honoured to have five time European Tour winner Michael Hoey write his Tour diary. You can follow Mike on facebook here and on twitter here.
Hi guys, Mike here. Sorry I haven't posted in a while but things have been so hectic lately!
The Irish Open was great as always; it's always great to play in front of your "home" crowd, even if it is the other end of the country! The journey down to Cork is so much easier now with all the new roads, it used to take an entire day from Belfast now its a very simple five hour cruise!
Last year was a special year because Erin was born the week before the event at Carton House, she and Bev visited me for dinner in Dublin on the Friday night because I'd made the cut. This year we had her first birthday party! She had cake at crèche and we had a cake with candles at home too. It's always good to get the obligatory picture for the album!
The course at Fota was in great condition. I hadn't played it since 2002 when it last hosted the event. I missed the cut then and I'm glad to say I didn't this time round. Missing the cut on Erin's birthday would have been horrendous!
I didn't play my best all week, sometimes it was ball striking, sometimes putting. I didn't get a really decent round going until Sunday. It could have been a really superb round but the 14th cost me a little with that three putt, but 8th position in the end was a good result.
Gerry and me had a lot of folk following us - Bev, her folks, my folks and Gerry's entire family (distant cousins, friends and all!). It all adds to the atmosphere. The guys love to play in front of big galleries and they always turn out in force in Ireland no matter the weather or the location. It's a great treat for us and I'd like to say thanks to everyone who makes the effort!
Of course Donal also nabbed me to do some impressions which was fun in the sun. In case you haven't seen it here's my GMac.
The Irish Open is a funny tournament in many ways, normally I can just turn up get my practice done and leave. At the Irish Open you meet so many people you grew up playing golf with that even walking to the putting green or range can take 20 minutes even if its only a few hundred yards! Colm Moriarity was there this year, I haven't seen Colm much since I left Challenge Tour and it was good to catch up with him!
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I've been to Germany since then, another great tournament and we're now in Versailles. Bev has come over for a few days, she left Erin at home with her parents and we had a day off seeing the sites yesterday. We went up the Eiffel Tower, and I did some running practice up to the second floor. You may or not know that Bev is expecting again which is fantastic for us, so we parted company temporarily on the first floor while I tore up the stairs for a peek from the second!
Sites done now it's back to business.
I'm always amazed by how many Americans there are in Paris. Nothing works, the service is appalling and the French are so rude yet the Americans love it! Although the event is fantastic its one of the trips we all dread because everything outside the golf is so difficult!
See you next time.
Mike
Check out Mike's official website here.
Hi guys, Mike here. Sorry I haven't posted in a while but things have been so hectic lately!
The Irish Open was great as always; it's always great to play in front of your "home" crowd, even if it is the other end of the country! The journey down to Cork is so much easier now with all the new roads, it used to take an entire day from Belfast now its a very simple five hour cruise!
Last year was a special year because Erin was born the week before the event at Carton House, she and Bev visited me for dinner in Dublin on the Friday night because I'd made the cut. This year we had her first birthday party! She had cake at crèche and we had a cake with candles at home too. It's always good to get the obligatory picture for the album!
The course at Fota was in great condition. I hadn't played it since 2002 when it last hosted the event. I missed the cut then and I'm glad to say I didn't this time round. Missing the cut on Erin's birthday would have been horrendous!
I didn't play my best all week, sometimes it was ball striking, sometimes putting. I didn't get a really decent round going until Sunday. It could have been a really superb round but the 14th cost me a little with that three putt, but 8th position in the end was a good result.
Gerry and me had a lot of folk following us - Bev, her folks, my folks and Gerry's entire family (distant cousins, friends and all!). It all adds to the atmosphere. The guys love to play in front of big galleries and they always turn out in force in Ireland no matter the weather or the location. It's a great treat for us and I'd like to say thanks to everyone who makes the effort!
Of course Donal also nabbed me to do some impressions which was fun in the sun. In case you haven't seen it here's my GMac.
The Irish Open is a funny tournament in many ways, normally I can just turn up get my practice done and leave. At the Irish Open you meet so many people you grew up playing golf with that even walking to the putting green or range can take 20 minutes even if its only a few hundred yards! Colm Moriarity was there this year, I haven't seen Colm much since I left Challenge Tour and it was good to catch up with him!
Follow @golfcentraldoc
I've been to Germany since then, another great tournament and we're now in Versailles. Bev has come over for a few days, she left Erin at home with her parents and we had a day off seeing the sites yesterday. We went up the Eiffel Tower, and I did some running practice up to the second floor. You may or not know that Bev is expecting again which is fantastic for us, so we parted company temporarily on the first floor while I tore up the stairs for a peek from the second!
Sites done now it's back to business.
I'm always amazed by how many Americans there are in Paris. Nothing works, the service is appalling and the French are so rude yet the Americans love it! Although the event is fantastic its one of the trips we all dread because everything outside the golf is so difficult!
See you next time.
Mike
Check out Mike's official website here.
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