Two worlds collided on Friday afternoon at the back of the clubhouse in the K Club. Tom McKibbin came and went, his five-under total comfortably keeping him in contention for the weekend.
Over an hour later Alex Maguire sank his birdie putt on the 18th hole to move to -2, walked to the side of the green, pumped his fist and snatched his cap from his head to slam it on the ground.
Instead, the world number 1,678 flung the cap behind him and across the green to where Zander Lombard was crouching over his marker.
“That’s probably one of the most embarrassing things I’ve ever done,” says Maguire.
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“It was more the case I looked over and I saw my dad. It’s big for them. That’s why the hat went miles.”
Where every putt means a chance to play on something more than the Challenge Tour, the emotional spillover and the flying cap was understandable. This week could change Maguire’s life.
“Absolutely, because I want my life to change,” he says. “I want my life to go as well as possible. I want to make money. I want to have status out on the DP World Tour.
“This is where I want to be so, 100 per cent I’m ready for this. It’s more a case of standing on a golf course, hitting the shots that allow me to change my life that way.”
In August, McKibbin took his LIV Golf haul to $5.77 million (€4.91 million), a contributory factor being a share of $14 million (€11.91 million) for winning the LIV Team Championship with Tyrrell Hatton, Caleb Surratt and Jon Rahm.
Already McKibbin’s career has cut free of one of the main shackles, finance, while Maguire has set himself up over the next two days to maybe trigger his own change.
“Funds go low pretty fast,” he says. “Especially when you’re playing for very small prize funds and you’re playing Challenge Tour and you finish 10th and you get eight hundred quid, which doesn’t even cover your expenses for the week.
“If everybody had two hundred grand to go spend, I guarantee a lot more guys would make it.”
On Friday he came to the last four holes knowing he was right on the cut mark. He finished on a rollercoaster bogey on 15, birdie, bogey and birdie.
He hit the back of the green in two at the par-5 final hole, his downhill putt coming to rest at tap-in range.
“How am I dealing with it? I guess, to be honest, this week came at a really good week,” said Maguire. “I had a good last few weeks mentally in terms of seeing my coach, seeing my psychologist, and really getting a good mental frame of mind, that’s all I’m focused on.
“I don’t really know how I’m dealing with it. I guess if you ask me in a week, I’ll tell you. I’m really optimistic that it’s the biggest event in Ireland, it’s one of the biggest events on the European Tour and I’m out there in the top 10 yesterday.
“I can get to that height. It’s not like a fluke. I’m playing lovely and I’m playing steady. I’m up there and I feel like I’m missing chances and I’m still top 50.”
Maguire is two shots behind Shane Lowry (-4) and five behind the world number two, Rory McIlroy (-7). In many ways he has never been so close.
There are plenty of bigger names below him in 2018 Masters champion Patrick Reed, Jhonattan Vegas, Matteo Manassero, Danny Willett, the 2016 Masters winner and five-time Major champion Brooks Koepka, who carded +8 for his two rounds and is going home.
“I think the goal at the start of the week was trying to get a tee time with Rory,” says Maguire. “But even just seeing him around and seeing the buzz ...
“You could just see the crowd. It’s like a sea of people. So, it’s really cool to be involved in an event where he is and Shane and Pádraig [Harrington]. I’m pretty lucky to be here.
“But I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself. I know what’s at stake.”
