In Focus Ireland's Tour hopefuls: Philip Reidand John O'Sullivanget the views of four Irish golfers who believe they have the game to succeed in the higher ranks

Michael Hoey

Club: Belfast.

Age: 28.

Professional wins: Two - BA-CA Open Austria (2005), Tessali Open, Italy (2007)

Nobody needs to tell Michael Hoey of golf's whims. In March, he finished tied-116th in the Kenyan Open. Then, two weeks ago, in Italy, he won the Tessali Open. From zero to hero, to use a pun; but true.

Hoey, who had a full tour card on the European Tour in 2006 but only managed to claim a cheque on seven out of 27 tournaments in a schedule that took him around the world more than once, finished last year "disappointed" but wiser.

"I had to learn. It wasn't so much my putting, but that I didn't drive the ball straight enough. I'd got a bit confused with my swing, and knew that I needed to hit longer, straighter drives," recalled Hoey.

The upshot was that Hoey undertook weekly trips to the north-east of England to visit his coach Andrew Nicholson over the long, bleak winter months and also underwent laser eye surgery.

The fruits of such labour were not immediately apparent this season as Hoey failed to make any cheque on tour until his superb win in the Tessali Open, where he birdied his final two holes - one in regular play, the second in the play-off - to claim success, his second win on the Challenge Tour since he turned professional after claiming the British Amateur title in 2001.

"This game is weird. You have to be your own best friend, don't you? And I can get hard on myself. You want to get hard on yourself so you can improve, but there is a fine line. I've viewed the last few years as an apprenticeship and I've found that I just need to put myself in position (to contend) more often, because I seem to be able to finish things off quite well when I do.

"I've had a few weaknesses in my game when I first turned pro, and I am not one to hide from those, and I got very low last year. You just think the game is unfair, seeing other players you don't rate as much doing better. I got very low (in 2006) and felt a bit like that at the start of this year. I just wasn't striking the ball well."

Yet, the win out of the blue didn't surprise Hoey. "I always felt I could do well," he remarked, a testimony to his self-belief, which is an integral part of any professional's game.

Brilliant sunshine punctured the dark clouds as the photographer's practised eye sought a suitable location to capture the beauty of Glasson Golf Hotel and Country Club, a snapshot filled out by the presence of a cluster of golfers, laughing and joking as they were cajoled into place.

Could it be an omen, the sudden burst of sunlight that pierced the leaden skies or perhaps potentially a metaphor for the hopes and ambitions of a quartet of players who had spent the majority of their professional careers toiling in the darkness, the lustre of their respective amateur days long since diminished. Only Michael Hoey has known success in the paid ranks (twice), the latest of which was a superb recent victory in Italy. For Colm Moriarty, Michael McGeady and Justin Kehoe professional golf has provided more lumps than largesse.

Congregating at Glasson Golf Club to publicise the European Challenge Tour event that will be staged at the picturesque, Christy O'Connor-designed Athlone venue in August, the four players reflected on their fledgling professional careers and tried to peer into what the future might hold. While Kehoe will largely commit himself to the Europro Tour, the other three players will get opportunities to road test their games on the Challenge Tour, a conduit for the successful few to the European Tour.

In 1989 the Challenge Tour provided places for five golfers to graduate to its senior and more lucrative sibling. This year 20 players will earn full playing rights on the European Tour. Since 1992, 84 former Challenge Tour players have amassed 172 victories on the European Tour, not including one major (Michael Campbell) and one World Golf Championship victory (Henrik Stenson). These statistics foster the dreams of the four young Irishman and hundreds of others who believe they have the game to succeed. The standards are high, a fact that the four are well aware of, yet it hasn't diminished their enthusiasm.

Michael McGeady

Club: Derry

Age: 28

Professional wins: None.

So you want a dose of reality? When McGeady turned professional in 2006 and managed to earn some invites to tournaments on the European Challenge Tour, he provided more than a hint that he possessed the right stuff. Five paydays in nine outings, including a runner-up finish in the Ireland Ryder Cup Challenge (at Mahony's Point in Killarney) gave an indication that this guy had a future.

The dose of reality has come this season, with McGeady missing the cut in each one of the five tournaments that he has managed to play on the Challenge Tour. An even bigger dose of reality, indeed, came when he travelled to Costa Rica as first reserve and, well, spent the week on the range. He never got to play in the tournament. With a wry grin, he puts it all down to being a part of the learning process.

As an accomplished amateur for Ireland, McGeady made the move to the professional ranks late in 2006 and quickly realised a couple of things.

One, that you can't "throw in double bogeys" and, secondly, that you've got to hole "the putts that matter." He expanded: "I think the better golf has to be played more often. You know, there is good golf and there is bad golf, but you need to play four rounds of good golf to win."

McGeady doesn't travel with any regular caddie, instead going from tournament to tournament and picking up a local bagman to carry the clubs.

That way, he saves money; although, some day, he aspires to a life on the main tour, with the big boys, and having his own caddie travel from one venue to another. His sponsorship deals with finance house Cambridge and McDuffy, Team Irish Life and the Team Ireland Golf Trust means that his expenses for the year (for 2007) are, at least, covered (for the most part).

However, his aim is to try and recreate the type of dynamism that he brought to the first few tournaments of last season that enabled him to impact so quickly and gain tour status.

"My aim is to finish in the top-20 of the (Challenge Tour) Order of Merit.

My shotmaking needs to be better, to get to the stage where you are playing good golf and not thinking about the score . . . You've just got to play every shot to the best of your ability and try to plot your way around the course."

Despite all the missed cuts, there is a flipside. "I wouldn't be the greatest flyer," he agreed, "and that's the only part of life on tour that I find difficult. But I don't think I would have got to see the likes of Kazakhstan, Mexico, Columbia and Costa Rica if I wasn't a tour professional."

Colm Moriarty

Club: Athlone

Age: 27

Professional wins: None.

"If it ain't broken, don't fix it," is a maxim that professional golfers tend to ignore. A penchant for tinkering in the search for swing utopia can often be counter-productive and is especially true of many amateurs who progress to the professional side of the sport.

The qualities and game characteristics that allow them to excel are often shed as they try and ape the swing mechanics of their professional peers.

The experience can be frustrating and for some the process invariably wends its way back to the starting point, the journey a chastening experience.

Colm Moriarty turned professional in September 2003, having been a top amateur, a fact illustrated by success that included Eisenhower Trophy participant (2002), the Willie Gill Award as Irish Golfer of the Year (2002), second place in the British Amateur Golf Order of Merit (2003), member of the winning Britain & Ireland Walker Cup team at Ganton and the Australian (NSW) Strokeplay and Matchplay titles (2003).

There have been a couple of high points in finishing 13th and 19th respectively in the 2005 and 2006 Irish Opens but he now finds himself at the foothills of his ambitions again, having lost his Challenge Tour card at the end of last season.

There were mitigating circumstances in terms of health issues and working with a new coach but Moriarty is the first to admit that 2006 was "a bad year." He is now back working with Brendan MacDaid of whom he says, "he turned me from an average amateur into a Walker Cup player.

"I am (now) as well prepared in every aspect of my game as I have ever been.

There's no stone left unturned and am just looking forward to the (golfing) year getting under way.

"I maybe didn't trust my game enough and looked for too many changes. I was looking around and taking too much notice of what other people were doing, instead of focusing on what I needed to do to be better.

"You tend to focus on the negative points rather than saying I am very good in this department. It's taken me three years but now I feel like I have the structure in place and am very well prepared. When you are a top amateur you know going to events that you are going to be in the mix.

"You don't feel like you have to do anything spectacular because there is that belief that you are the best player in the field. Whereas when you come into the pro game, you have no status, you're nobody. It takes a few years and some harsh experiences to progress."

Apart from the Europro tour, Moriarty will play six Challenge Tour events in the next three months, his focus to try and get his card back there and then aim for the summit and a place on the European Tour.

Moriarty is also working with Liam Moggin (sports psychologist), Jim Kilty (fitness) and Sports Vision International (a company that teach sportsmen to fine tune their eyesight).

More aware of the pitfalls, he's better prepared for the journey, second time around.

Justin Kehoe

Club: Birr.

Age: 27.

Professional wins: None.

A couple of weeks ago Justin Kehoe missed the cut after two rounds of the Europro Tour qualifying school. The circuit is arguably the third tier in terms of professional golf in Europe.

Since turning professional in 2003 the Birr native has struggled to make an impact in the professional game having enjoyed a decent amateur career that saw him win the South of Ireland Championship (2001), the World Universities Individual Championship (2003), be selected for the Ireland team for the Home internationals from 2000-2003 and also a Walker Cup panellist.

Amateur pedigree gets a player to the starting gate but the journey into the paid ranks can be a bit of a culture shock. This season on the Europro Tour, Kehoe holds a Category 12 card, that will allow him into most events and will also be present at Glasson Golf Club in August for the European Challenge Tour event.

The clock is ticking. "Professional golf is a very different lifestyle. You're not looked after in the same way you would have been in your amateur days. The GUI would have organised all your travel, your flights, where you were playing and staying and things like that. It's also a completely different standard.

"In the amateur days you could go around in level par or maybe a couple under and you'd never be far from winning at the end of the week. On the Challenge Tour and the Europro Tour, those numbers wouldn't be good enough.

"The margins are fine. One shot could make the difference at the end of the week. Some rounds you might finish two shots behind the leader but if that's two shots in every round then it's eight shots by the end of the week and that's massive in terms of money.

"Golf is all about the short game, from 100 yards in: I don't think it'll ever be any different. If you can do well with your wedges and your putter then you'll do well in golf. I do a couple of hours in the gym and then I try to practice for maybe four or five hours.

"I have noticed in the past that hitting balls is not necessarily productive for me because if you are not working on the right things then you are going to further ingrain bad habits. It's so detrimental to your game. It's like the definition of insanity if you do the same thing over and over again and expect a different result each time."

Kehoe, along with Tim Rice and Stephen Browne is coached by American Jimmy Ballard, whom he sees about three or four times a year. It's not ideal but the sport demands mental strength and accountability on and off the course. Is there a long term picture? "It's hard to put a timeframe on it. As long as I can have the support to do it, I'll persevere. I believe I have the game to play on the European Tour. "