O’Rourke praise for Naas pro

Newly crowned St Andrews Links Trophy champion Conor O’Rourke has credited Naas head PGA Professional Gavin Lunny for helping transform his fortunes.

O’Rourke landed one of amateur golf’s biggest titles with a wire-to-wire victory at the Home of Golf and highlighted the work he has been doing with Lunny.

In the latest issue of the Global Golf Post, Brian Keogh reflects on his rise to success in which O’Rourke tells him: “It has been coming for a while but I have totally flipped how I prepare for tournaments on its head and how I have handled myself when I get to events.

“I have been working with my coach, Gavin Lunny, since 2014 on how I approach events and developing some mental techniques.

“I didn’t really have a grasp of them until early in the year and it clicked in the Irish Amateur Open and I then carried that momentum on to France and on to Scotland, obviously.

“We just work on focussing all my attention on the right things before I hit shots. Rather than looking up and recognising the trouble here, there and everywhere, I have just been focussing on where I want to hit my golf ball and on my routine.

“In the past I might have been a little harsh on myself and that was holding me back, even though my technique was good enough to hit the shots I wanted to hit, focusing on the correct things made the difference.”

Read the full article in Global Golf Post here.