John Murphy and Olivia Mehaffey see confidence as key as they bid to step up a level this season.
Speaking as part of Golf Ireland’s launch of its
five-year Strategic Plan yesterday, the former amateur stars know it’s what
makes the difference.
“I think confidence is certainly something that all
the best players just seem to ooze,” said Kinsale star Murphy (23), who hopes
to pick Séamus Power’s brain as he prepares to make his PGA Tour debut
alongside the West Waterford man in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
“They don’t lack confidence in any way. They just
seem to be so tidy with no real blunders or looseness in their game.”
Murphy will play on the Challenge Tour this year,
but he’s looking to learn from Power, who works with mental coach Dr Bob
Rotella, during their practice rounds this week.
“Someone who has done what he has done in the game
and worked as hard as he has, I want to hear about,” Murphy said of Power, who
also came through the US collegiate system.
“Hard work is so important, but it can only get you
so far if you’re not working on the right things.”
Mehaffey (24) endured a testing start to her
professional career last year, when she missed out on her LPGA card, then lost
her father Philip to cancer just days before the Ladies European Tour Q-School.
She plans to play a full schedule on the LPGA’s
second-tier Epson Tour this year with forays to Europe, but also admits she
needs to improve mentally.
“Last year was an extremely tough year for me, on
and off the course, probably the hardest I faced, and I hope I don’t face
anything like last year for a long time,” Mehaffey said.
Told by her mental coach she must stop treating
every event as “life or death”, she reflected: “I sat down after last year, and
I wrote a reflection on every part of my game and the mental game was the one
area that I thought had gotten worse and needed a lot of work,” she said.
“I want to get a win this year, and I want to get my
LPGA card. But the biggest thing I need to see improve is my mental game.”