John Huggan: Too cool for school

IN something of a departure from the norm, the young James Byrne didn’t decide to become a professional golfer in the euphoric aftermath of his maiden birdie, or even when he broke 70 for the first time.

Instead, his future career path came to the then 15-year-old when he was staring through his goggles at the bottom of a swimming pool.

Before that prescient flash of inspiration, the now graduate of Arizona State University, Walker Cup player and freshly-minted professional – albeit so far without portfolio – had been a swimmer of some note, following a training regime that even now makes one wonder where he found the time to tee-up even occasionally.

“I was pretty good in the water, competing at just about the same level as I did at golf,” says Byrne, who recently failed to make it through the first stage of the European Tour’s expensive and three-step qualifying school. “I had a pretty good chance of progressing into national squads, which could have taken me to things like the Commonwealth Games and maybe even the Olympics.

“The training was incredible, now I think about it. I used to do 18 hours a week in the pool and three more in the gym. That’s on top of school of course. So it was an average of three hours a day, every day. I’d get up at 5.30 every morning. One of my parents (father Paul hails from Yorkshire and mother Siew-Heok – “call her Sue” – is from Singapore) would drive me 20 minutes to the pool. Then I’d be in the water from 6am until 8am. I’d have my breakfast in the car on the way back then go to school at 8.40. I’d finish there at 3.40, go home, have a sandwich and be back in the pool for another two hours at 5.30. I’d get home about 8pm, absolutely knackered, and be in bed by 9pm.”

Still, that early discipline carried over into the teenage Byrne’s golf. Within two years of devoting himself full-time to the game he was a member of the Scottish senior side at the European Team Championship. But even a much-decorated amateur career – the 22-year-old Aberdonian has an array of medals from national competition, including a silver from last year’s Amateur Championship – is no guarantee of instant success in the pro ranks. Despite being more than good enough to make the cut in both the Johnnie Walker Championship and the Dunhill Links, Byrne returned from ‘PQ-1’ in Portugal a briefly disillusioned man.

“Tour school isn’t a lot of fun, to be honest,” he sighs. “But I know the tour makes a lot of money from it, so nothing is likely to change. I paid £1,300 to tee-up in Portugal and there were maybe 100 guys there. So that adds up. I have to say too, that the staging of the event was very poor, much worse than any amateur tournament I’ve ever played in.

“If it had been staged better, I feel like I would have had a better chance. I was struggling off the tee and there were no ball-spotters out there. There wasn’t even a clubhouse, just a wee tent by the tee. The location of the course was poor too. My hotel was miles away. Everything about it felt bizarre, especially when you consider it represented maybe the most important four days of my golfing life so far.

“To be honest, the Banchory Open is better run. Seriously. There wasn’t even a leader board, not on the course or by the clubhouse. The only way to get scores was to go on the internet, or try and sneak a peek at the list when you handed in your card. It was really strange and disappointing.”

All is far from lost, however. Quite apart from the Asian Tour qualifying school in January there is the hope that his management company, IMG, will conjure up a few invitations to their own events in the coming months. Certainly, there is no need to panic. Statistically, those emerging on to the main tours from the subsidiary circuits tend to be more successful than qualifying school graduates who had one hot week.

“Although I’m obviously hoping to get my Asian Tour card, I’ll still be looking for chances to play in Europe, on either of the tours,” says Byrne. “I clearly won’t get into the bigger events, but I’m hopeful I’ll get maybe seven starts on the Challenge Tour. If I play well in those you never know where I could end up. It would mean a lot of travel, but I’d be happy to go wherever I can just to play.

“It’s funny, I walked away from the tour school devastated and thinking it was the end of the world. But it really isn’t. I’m still young and I still have plenty of places to play. So it’s not as if I’ll be sitting around with nothing to do for the next 12 months. Besides, getting a card for the European Tour through the school process is no easy task. Even if I had qualified a couple of weeks ago I would still have two stages to go.”

So a wee breather won’t do Byrne any real or lasting harm. Besides, from what this spectator has witnessed over the last few years he is perhaps the most likely of the current batch of young Scots to make an impact at the highest levels of the game. He was certainly amongst the most impressive members of the victorious Great Britain & Ireland squad at last month’s Walker Cup.

“I really enjoyed what went on at Royal Aberdeen, even if it was really windy both days,” he says with a smile. “I did get dropped from the first morning foursomes – that surprised me a little. But [captain] Nigel Edwards had told us that no-one would get dropped, only rested! So I put on a good face and supported the lads. Plus, it made me more determined to win in the afternoon.

“And I did, by holing a 90-foot putt on the 17th green. It was easily one of the best shots of my life, one I couldn’t wait to see on the television. I got home on the Monday and sat down to watch every minute of the BBC coverage. But when I was on the 16th they cut away. It was ‘see you tomorrow'. So I still haven’t seen my putt.

“My amateur career is something I will always look back on fondly, though. I played with Padraig Harrington at the Dunhill Links. He told me that he ranks the three Walker Cups he played in third behind his major wins and the Ryder Cups he was part of. So it was nice to finish on such a high, one I can look back on for the rest of my life.”

Now though, it’s all about peering forward, not back. Indeed, it’s hard to imagine this impressively mature young man not being a card-holding European Tour member one year from now. He has the game, the determination and the dedication; all he needs is the experience.