By ALISTAIR TAIT
Senior WriterDUBAI, United Arab Emirates – You could scrape the bottom of the European Tour barrel and struggle to find a player lower on food chain than Ireland’s Damien McGrane to challenge Tiger Woods for the $2.5 million Dubai Desert Classic.
McGrane’s 3-under 69 took him to 7 under Friday and a date with golfing greatness. McGrane is in second place just one shot behind Woods.
Damien Who? That will be the question on Tiger’s lips when they tee it up together in the third round.
Woods reportedly receives $3 million just to turn up in Dubai, plus the cost of fuel to pilot his private jet here. McGrane hasn’t come close to making that sort of money in 12 years on the European Tour.
The 36-year-old former head professional of Wexford Golf Club has earned E1.69 million in his career (approximately $2.5 million). He has made five trips to the European Tour Qualifying School, and counts a third in the 2006 KLM Open and 2007 French Open as his best performances in five full seasons with a Tour card.
He’s been close to Woods on just two occasions.
“I’ve walked past him on the practice ground,” McGrane deadpanned. “And we ate in the same steakhouse on Wednesday night.”
Aside those two third places, McGrane’s other main claim to golfing fame is playing for Great Britain & Ireland in the 2000 PGA Cup against the United States at Celtic Manor, Wales. He managed a .500 record in that matc in a narrow defeat to the U.S.
The 5-foot, 8-inch Irishman has managed to hold on to his European Tour card in each of the last four season. He’s capable of going low, too – he shot 7-under 63 in the 2006 Hong Kong Open, and he’s scored 64 on three occasions.
McGrane might not be well known on the European circuit, but he has some street cred in Ireland. He won the Irish PGA Assistants Championship in 1993 and 1994. In 1999 he won the Irish PGA Southern Championship. The highlight of his amateur career came when he won the 1988 Irish Boys Championship.
“It’s been a long road for me,” McGrane said. “I still think I’m on the correct road moving forward, and it’s nice to see my name on the leaderboard.
“That’s what it’s about, isn’t it? That’s why we practice so hard and why we work continuously to improve what we do.”
The man from Meath, Ireland has played alongside Ernie Els and Colin Montgomerie in the past, but walking past Woods on the practice ground is as close as he’s got to the world No. 1.
“Obviously our ambition is to play alongside him, see how the game is played, see what we should be doing because he obviously sets the mark at the moment.”
And McGrane’s key to playing in the presence of golfing greatness?
“Golf is a difficult game for me. Obviously I have to make the most of what I do. I play my own game no matter who I am playing with. I have to try and do the same thing: play my own game, sink a few putts and hopefully the numbers add up correctly at the end of the day.”
It’s the second tournament in a row Woods has played with an unfamiliar opponent in the third round. Last week he walked beside Kevin Streelman in the Buick Invitational. Streelman shot 75 and watched as Woods build an eight-shot lead.
At least McGrane can claim a higher status than Streelman. McGrane is 319th in the world compared to Streelman’s rank of 1,324.
• • •
Alistair Tait is a Golfweek senior writer. To reach him email
atait@golfweek.com.
Posted: 2/1/2008
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