West Waterford golfer Gary Hurley is making steady progress on the world stage and his credentials were further enhanced at the weekend as he captured the Alps De Andalucia in Spain on Saturday last (June 25th).
The Aglish man held his nerve and closed out the first win of his professional career in fine style as he romped to four-shot win.
— Gary Hurley (@GaryHurley93) June 26, 2022
Gary featured on last Monday night's "On The Ball" programme and was over the moon with the way he performed and ultimately won the tournament; "Extremely happy with the weekend, I'm extremely happy with how the year is going to be honest. There's been plenty of times this year where if everything just clicked a bit better, I could have won earlier but it was really nice the way I did it on Sunday, was really happy with how I controlled my emotions more than actually the outcome itself".
That emotional and mental aspect of the game can be challenging at times and it's something that Gary has worked hard on over the past few years; "Yeah, I've worked extremely hard on the mental side of it and it's more competent I was now than confident. I've been really diligent with my behavioural output this last year or two, I've been working hard on making some changes to how to operate before, after, during playing and switching my focus to things that I can control and shifting away from the outcome which is a big part if you want to do this for a long time, just to take away the emotions of each shot, take care of what you can control".
An eagle on the 15th proved pivotal for the former Walker Cup star, who signed off in style by grabbing a birdie to close out his week at the 18th.
It's a first Alps Tour win of the season for Hurley who now rises to fifth in the Order of Merit standings; "I wasn't surprised with how I performed" said Hurley, "I was really excited to test a lot of the work I've been putting in when you feel your most nervous, because I was really nervous on the last day. But I just decided to choose to feel excited about it even though I was nervous if that makes sense, it was brilliant to win the tournament".
Gary didn't have much time for celebrations however as he immediately returned to action in the Open qualifying at Hollinwell in the UK yesterday (Tuesday). Rounds of 78 and 82 meant he was well outside the qualifying spots. The West Waterford man will take a well earned break for the next week, and we will see him back in action on July 7th for the eagerly awaited Alps Tour in Spain.
GARY HURLEY WINS on @alpstourgolf
Huge congratulations to @GaryHurley93 today on a fantastic win in Alps de Andalucia 2022 on @alpstourgolf. This is great work for all the hard work & resiliance for a hugely talented golfer.
Gary shot a final round (-5) 67 to win by 4 shots. pic.twitter.com/TFImBTVTat— West Waterford Golf Club (@westwaterfordgc) June 25, 2022
Listen back to our chat with Gary Hurley from Monday evening's Sports show "On The Ball" here; https://www.wlrfm.com/listenback?date=27-06-2022.
