Moriarty comes home

By Brian Keogh

Challenge Tour battler Colm Moriarty is coming home this season - in more ways than one.

The Athlone ace will get to play on his own patch when the Challenge Tour touches down at the Glasson Golf Hotel & Country Club for the €150,000 Challenge of Ireland from August 2-5.

But after losing his full Challenge Tour card last season, Moriarty is hoping that a return to long-time coach Brendan McDaid will put him back on the road to success.

Moriarty said: "I got lost with my game a bit last year but I'm back with Brendan again and we had a great practice session together down at San Roque recently.

"We stopped working together at the end of 2005 when I went to Pete Cowen, but things weren't progressing the way I wanted.

"I just couldn't get to see him as often as I would have liked but Brendan knows my game inside out since we first started together in 2000 and we have made a lot of progress together."

Moriarty, 27 hopes he can turn his worst ever season into a positive and win his way onto the main European Tour.

But he will need to iron on the kinks in his swing and his short game if he is to contend for a top 15 place on the money list from just eight starts

He said: "Last season was a disaster but I am putting it down as a learning experience. It gave me a bit of a shake up but in a couple of years time I might look back on it as the best year I have had.

"I previous years you could miss the cut and say, well there's always next week. But this year I have to peak for every event.

"My goal is to win a Challenge Tour event this year, even though I won't get to play in as many events as I have over the last two years.

"I don't have any category this year but plenty of guys have played just eight events and got their card."

Moriarty was thinking of Germany's Martin Kaymer, who played just eight times on the second tier tour last season but won twice and finished in the top five four times to graduate to the main tour.

And the Challenge Tour event at the home of his loyal sponsors Glasson could be just the ticket.

He added: "With the new hotel, Glasson will be a great venue for the Challenge Tour this summer. It's just ideal.

"A win there would be perfect and with Brendan's help I believe I'm getting back on track with my swing, which had gone very flat and laid off.

"We worked on the range in San Roque for a couple of hours and I went out on the Old Course straight after that and had eight birdies!"