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Irish Mirror

Sport

Gary Murphy

Gary Murphy column: Will Zalatoris the man but Irish eyes could be smiling with massive pay day

Will Zalatoris Shane Lowry Seamus Power Tom McKibbin PGA Tour Ewen Ferguson Tom Lewis DP World Tour FedEx Cup (Organization) United States

We were treated to a thrilling finish and a maiden PGA Tour win for Will Zalatoris in last week’s first instalment of the FedEx Cup playoffs.

It’s hard to believe Zalatoris’ triumph at the St Jude Championship in Memphis was the American’s first ever success on the PGA Tour.

Yes, he has only been on tour for two years, but his form has been absolutely superb and he has also been one of the standout players in majors in recent times.

This year alone, he finished T6 at the Masters, T2 behind Matt Fitzpatrick at the US Open and lost a play-off to Justin Thomas at the US PGA.

The 26-year-old, who is up to ninth in the world rankings, also lost a play-off at the Farmers and had top-five finishes at the Memorial and Dell Technologies Matchplay.

The problem is Zalatoris failed to turn red hot consistency into silverware. Well, that wait is over now and he will be forever remembered as a PGA Tour winner.

Will finally getting one over the line open the floodgates or will the fact he broke a glass - and emotional - ceiling heap added pressure on his shoulders? Time will tell.

Zalatoris’ win in Memphis catapulted him from 12th place to the top of the FedEx Cup standings and I do think the current ranking system in the States is flawed.

Scottie Scheffler has won four tournaments and a major in 2022, yet after one FedEx play-off, he is suddenly playing catchup to a player celebrating his first win of the year?

That can’t be right. Listen, everyone knows the rules, but a dominant regular season shouldn’t be eclipsed as quickly or as easily as that.

We’re now down to 70 players for this week’s BMW Championship before the field is whittled even further to 30 for the season climax at the Tour Championship on August 28.

Seamus Power and Shane Lowry currently lie 37th and 38th on the FedEx Cup ladder and a good week should guarantee them a place at the top table for Atlanta in eight days time.

The financial rewards for the season climax in the States are eye-watering with the last-place finish earning you a cool $500,000, But win it it and you’re $18 million richer.

Crazy to think Seamus or Shane could tap into that kind of money if the stars align over the course of the next two weeks.

I would love to see them clear this week’s hurdle and reach next week’s lucrative shootout at the Tour Championship.

They have lived inside the top-30 for most of 2022 and it would be cruel if they miss out at the final hurdle.

ISPS Handa Invitational recap

I spent last week commentating on the baking hot fairways of Galgorm Castle at the ISPS Handa Invitational and the County Antrim course shone in the sunshine.

It was a really enjoyable week and also fantastic to see a progressive format where men and women competed for equal prize money in separate tournaments.

They played the same courses - Galgorm and Massereene - only with different lengths and par, the men playing just over 7,100 yards and the women just over 6,600 yards.

Swede Maja Stark dominated the women’s event to win her third LET tournament this year on 20-under, a score that included a brilliant course record 63 in the final round.

I said at the start of the week that the Ryder Cup needs fresh blood and Jordan Smith, who finished T7 in the men’s tournament, is a player who can go to the next level.

Ewen Ferguson, who won the event three shots clear of the chasing pack, is also in that bracket.

Granted, it wasn’t a loaded field at Galgorm and the 26-year-old Scot will face bigger and better opposition going forward, but you can only beat what’s in front of you.

Ewen really impressed me. His game looks solid in all departments and he seems to be able to bring his range game to the course which is the biggest challenge in golf.

He plays with a really good spirit and you could see that he relished the challenge of chasing down his second title of the year following his Qatar Masters triumph in March.

The DP World Tour needs fresh talent to emerge following the LIV exodus, so it was refreshing to see Ferguson step up on a narrow and fast course because of the weather.

Tom McKibbin signs

Tom McKibbin continues to make forward strides and his first DP World Tour top-10 finish on home soil was one of the highlights of last week’s ISPS Handa World Invitational.

The 19-year-old finished at six-under par to secure a share of 10th, his best finish since turning professional a year ago.

It is vital that more of our young players emerge and Tom is currently on track to gain full status for next year’s DP World Tour.

He has been a standout talent from a young age and while high expectations can be a burden, he has the character and mentality to climb the ladder.

His coach Johnny Foster, who has been key to his recent progress, also deserves a lot of credit for the job he is doing with one of our brightest talents.

McKibbin is up to 15th on the Challenge Tour’s Road to Mallorca rankings, just 14 and 17 places above John Murphy and Ruaidhri McGee who are hot on his heels.

The fact all three are chasing the same goal is a real positive for Irish golf - they will push each other on until the end of the season.