Liam Nolan isn’t feeling weighed down by the burden of pressure at the Rolex Grand Final as he bids to complete a sensational maiden professional campaign with promotion to the DP World Tour.
Nolan looked set for a full season on the Alps Tour but two top fives from as many invites in the first two HotelPlanner Tour events of the year meant he could forego his Alps venture and focus on Europe’s second tier.
Ranked 43rd out of the 45 players at this week’s HotelPlanner Tour finale, the Galway man needs a top-2 finish to guarantee himself one of the 20 available DP World Tour cards for next year, but he is treating the situation as bonus territory.
“It’s a pleasure and honour to be here having started the year with invites only. To get my way to the Grand Final I would have bit your arm off at the start of the year. It’s a great opportunity to be here,” said Nolan who is in the first group out just after 9am local time at Club de Golf Alcanada, Mallorca.
“Feeling great, I’m in a nice position of nothing to lose. Just go out there and see what game comes to the tee with me on Thursday. I am very fortunate and lucky to be in this position. You are looking at DP World Tour cards but this is another opportunity to learn about my game so hopefully at the end of the week I have a card and if not, just a really enjoyable year and lucky to be here.
“I thought I was going to be playing this whole season on Alps Tour! I got my card at Alps Q-School last year after missing out on Final Stage at DP by a shot so I had mentally prepared for a season on Alps and then those two starts made me prepare for a year on the HotelPlanner Tour.
“I am already a tour ahead of where I thought I was going to be so to get to Mallorca I would have done anything for that at the start of the year.”
Nolan turned professional last August after making an appearance at the Open Championship in Troon. The 25-year-old was expecting to have just eight invites to the HotelPlanner Tour.
He burst onto the scene at the SDC Open with a third place finish where he was one shot outside of a playoff then followed it up with another flirt at victory, finishing fourth a week later.
With nearly €40,000 in the bank, many wondered how high Nolan could go as he was perched inside the top-5 on the Road to Mallorca Rankings. A run of five missed cuts was arrested by a third place in Denmark as he continued his promotion bid.
However, he has slipped outside the top-20 since but while results haven’t gone his way he feels his performances have been encouraging since his rapid start to the season.
“It’s just a case of having no expectations on the golf course,” he said of his early season surge. “Wanting to play well but not focused on the week after that and the week after that, just try to take as much opportunity as you can from the Golf Ireland invites so it was just that blissful ignorance and just wanting to play well. From thinking that I was going to get eight invites to trying to give myself as much of a chance of keeping a card I was absolutely buzzing.
“This year my main goal was just to learn and I have. It’s a lot of golf compared to amateur golf. I wasn’t expecting as much golf just managing yourself on the road so no matter what happens this week I can take everything I’ve learned into this year. That was the main goal as I didn’t know what would happen at the start.
“I’ve played with some amazing players this year. Ball striking and short game, they all rip it and get up and down and hole putts so it’s a step up from amateur golf. It gives you a lot to look at and highlights what you can do better in your own game.”
If Nolan isn’t successful this week he can have another crack at the DP World Tour at next month’s Final Stage of Q-School although the card on offer there is much weaker than what he could win on Sunday.
For now, the goal is a DP World Tour card. As for next season the former NUIG student knows to take one exam at a time and not get caught up in eventualities.
“Maybe it’s good that I am on the HotelPlanner Tour and not on the DP because it’s a great place to learn about yourself and your own game so I am delighted to be on this tour.
“I’m not one for long term goals especially in this sport so many things can change. Long term goals if I had made them they would have been scrapped after two weeks.”
