Paul Dunne will tee it up at the biggest party in golf at the Phoenix Open bidding to continue a dream start to his USPGA Tour career.
The 23-year-old from Greystones took advantage of an invite to the Farmers Insurance at Torrey Pines by finishing alongside Shane Lowry in a tie for 13th spot.
Dunne picked up close to €115,000 in San Diego as well as bagging an invitation to Scottsdale, where well over half a million golf fans will cheer on the players over the four days.
Lowry has also made the trip across to Arizona looking to build on his on a bright seasonal debut in California. Pádraig Harrington is also in action and he will be looking to make up for a second-round 78 that saw him miss the cut in last year’s event.
Brooks Koepka went on to win his first PGA Tour title after a closing 66 to edge out Bubba Watson by a single shot.
The duo have been paired together for the opening two rounds, but will be keeping an eye on the leaderboards for the in-form Rickie Fowler following his recent win in Abu Dhabi.
Fowler followed that success up with a missed cut at Torrey Pines having flown through 12 time zones to get to San Diego, but described it as “just a little hiccup”.
Fowler's dramatic win a fortnight ago was his fourth in the last nine months, starting with the Players Championship at Sawgrass last May in the week he and Ian Poulter were voted the most overrated players by their peers in an anonymous survey conducted by Sports Illustrated.
It lifted Fowler to a career-high fourth in the world and made him one of the favourites the following week, only for the 27-year-old to miss the cut.
“I’ve been playing well through the middle of last year into the fall. I’m excited to continue that,” Fowler told a pre-tournament press conference. “Last week was a little hiccup along the way but I’m looking forward to picking back up where we left off in Abu Dhabi.
“I’m a lot more confident after coming off four wins in the last nine months. The game feels great. Towards the end of last year is some of the best I have ever been swinging.
“A couple of stretches at Kapalua (Tournament of Champions) and the weekend at Tiger’s event in the Bahamas I was putting together some good rounds of golf where it was just easy hitting it close, making some putts, and it was great to see that and knowing that there is still a lot of room for improvement and continuing to get better.
“So that’s what’s exciting about it. I have been playing well, but I know that I can keep getting better.”
Fowler refused to blame his long journey to San Diego for missing the cut, although it may have been a blessing in disguise given the bad weather which forced a Monday finish.
But after world number one Jordan Spieth complained of feeling tired in Abu Dhabi after his recent globetrotting schedule, Fowler believes the Masters and US Open champion will need to figure out his limitations.
“I think it can change over time, but I know I went through a stretch at the end of my rookie year where I think I went from Frys.com (in California) to Vegas, to Malaysia, to China, to Disney (in Florida),” Fowler added.
“I kind of figured out, ‘Okay, that’s a little much’. A lot of times now I don’t play more than three weeks in a row. I feel like you learn about travelling pretty quickly how much you can and can’t do, maybe what your limitations are and how much you can fit in.
“I know Jordan enjoys seeing new places. He was excited about going to Abu Dhabi. He’s still young. He’s figuring it out early. He’ll be all right.”
