CARDS ON THE TABLE

Rory was thrilled when he earned his European Tour Card in October 2007. He had planned to hit the pro circuit hard and fast but even he was surprised at just how quickly success would come in his career – only his second and third tournaments, to be exact. After finishing tied 42nd in the British Masters, he had headed up to Scotland for the Dunhill Links, pleased but knowing he had much more to offer.

He knew the analysts, the public and his fellow pros were all watching him with eager eyes to assess whether he did indeed have what it takes or whether he would follow in the footsteps of the aforementioned Justin Rose, who had taken some time – and considerable effort – to emerge as a contender after turning pro himself.

As Rory arrived at St Andrews at the start of October, he knew that he would have his work cut out to make a big impression against a top-notch field. He would be up against defending champion Padraig Harrington, who was looking to win the event for a record-breaking third time. Harrington, of course, had also won The Open three months earlier at Carnoustie and would provide stiff competition for Rory and the other hopefuls aiming to crack the event at three of the world’s greatest links courses in the Old Course at St Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns.

Rory also knew that victory at the Dunhill was often a welcome catalyst for great things to follow. Twelve months earlier, Harrington had used his second Dunhill Links title as a stepping-stone on the way to winning his first European Tour Order of Merit crown. And he had also laid claim to becoming the first Irishman in 25 years to win the Irish Open and then added the 137th Open to his list of honours.

Rory would do well to see off the challenge of Harrington, the only player to win the Dunhill Links twice; he would also face other class acts, including further former winners of the event – Paul Lawrie (2001), Stephen Gallacher (2004), Colin Montgomerie (2005) and Lee Westwood, who had lifted the trophy in 2003 and was arriving on the back of winning the British Masters.

Rory dreamed of winning the event but was realistic enough to know even a Top 10 finish would be an achievement. And he would do better than that – much better, finishing third and virtually guaranteeing he would earn that much-coveted Tour card. He shot 71-67-67-68 to finish at 15-under 273.

England’s Nick Dougherty claimed his second title on The European Tour, carding a final-round 1-under-par 71 for an 18-under-par total of 270, which put him two ahead of Justin Rose. But Rory was also the talk of the town as he edged closer to becoming the youngest Affiliate Member in the history of the European Tour ever to earn the coveted Tour card.

When he later explained what the result meant to him he was beaming like a Cheshire cat, at the same time revealing that Westwood had really given him a boost by telling him he was already good enough to win the event! ‘I knew at the start of the week I needed to do something pretty special to get my Tour card and I am absolutely ecstatic. There have been a lot of great players come into the game pretty young, obviously Tiger [Woods] and Sergio [Garcia], and I’m trying to take it all in my stride. When I talked about my chances of making the card this week to Lee, he told me I could win the tournament. When someone like Lee tells you that, it gives you a lot of confidence. Hopefully this is a huge step for bigger and better things.’

Rory listened intently as winner Dougherty explained how the result would now change his life, at the age of 25. His words would give the youngster hope and make him even more determined that he, too, would start to win events soon and experience the same seismic change the more experienced player talked about. Dougherty would also make the valid point that winning does take time and effort and practice – and sometimes you need to be patient as you travel along the road towards it. For the young man from Northern Ireland, those were wise words indeed and invaluable advice. Dougherty said: ‘Obviously I’m delighted to win, but more especially in the manner that I did it. The start I had felt like a similar start to other tournaments where I had other chances to win but you know, I spoke to my dad before I went out and I felt very nervous, to be honest. It means so much, you know, to win and as much as I really wanted for it not to mean that much to me, it’s difficult. You know, it’s my nature to care that much – I just felt it was in my hands.

‘And it’s a life-changing win in that what it’s done. It’s changed the perspective of this year; it’s changed obviously where I am in the world, where I am with my own personal goals in my career and what I’ve done. It’s just so hard for me to go through the process without me jumping and wanting to get to the end too quickly.

‘I’ve done fantastically well this year. It’s because of what I’ve done that I was in a position to be able to win this week. The way I dealt with the start today – I didn’t have those attributes, you know, 10 months ago – and I think I’ve learned from the errors. And thankfully the errors have been in events that haven’t been as important as this one and so it’s nice for me to get it right in the right place.’

Third place would also boost Rory’s bank balance – to the tune of €211,000, to be exact. He could now add it to the €12,000 pocketed for his showing at the British Masters. It seemed this pro game was a walk in the park for Rory – his transition from amateur had been so smooth. After the last round he would be asked at the press conference whether he was surprised that it had been so easy to bridge the gap to pro. In response, he said: ‘Not really. I think because I’ve played so many events as an amateur in professional tournaments, I think I’ve fitted in really well and I know most of the guys out here, anyway. So, that’s been pretty nice. You know, if I can keep going the way I am, there’s a lot of good things out on Tour for me. So, hopefully I can just keep playing well.’

However, he admitted that it ‘had been a pretty nice feeling’ to have finished in the top three, adding: ‘At the start of the week, I knew that I had to do something pretty special to try and get my Tour card.’

He was asked if, as he worked through his final round, he was aware that third place would almost guarantee his Tour card. ‘Not really,’ he replied. ‘I went to 15-under after the 10th, I sort of thought, you know, try and hang on a bit.