Ryan McCarthy arrives at the Vierumäki Finnish Challenge with a new-found love for his craft after competing in a Major Championship for the first time two weeks ago.
The Australian qualified for the 146th Open Championship through winning a four-man play-off at Gailes Links – an experience the 27 year old admits has rekindled his passion for his day job.
“The whole week really reignited my love for the game again,” he said. “I was getting a little flat battling to make it on the mini tours, and it can be a slog, so it was re-energising to play in an amazing event like The Open.
“I played a practice round with Jason Day, Bryson DeChambeau and Sean O’Hair – which was awesome.
“To see that those players still have patches when they are phenomenal and periods when they play disgusting made me realise that there isn’t such a massive difference between us and them.
“The difference is being in control of the moments, whether those are the moments that keep rounds going or the big pressure moments.
“My late tee time on Thursday and then getting off to a slow start wasn’t great, but I played well over my last 29 holes, but it was always going to be difficult after starting at five over after seven.
“Next time, hopefully there is a next time really soon, I believe that I will be able to do better.”
Although McCarthy didn’t make it through to the weekend at Royal Birkdale, the experience of brushing shoulders with the world’s finest seems to have already paid dividends.
The Tasmanian was three shots off the lead going into the final round of the Porsche European Open, and went on to finish inside the top 20 on the European Tour for the first time.
Having been in contention in Hamburg last week, McCarthy believes that the difference between the European and Challenge Tour is minimal.
“The field strength between this week and last week is the pretty much the same,” he said. “In my opinion there is no difference between the top players and then us guys on the Challenge Tour, so I’m trying to stick to my same processes.
“I am just going to try and go out there and play my best each week. Whether it is last week, this week, or The Open, they are all just events that I want to go out there and play.”
McCarthy, who is based in Buenos Aires in Argentina and has competed on golf tours around the globe, had never visited Finland before this week and is excited to play at Vierumäki Resort.
“It is a beautiful course,” he said. “The pine trees that line the fairways are stunning and I’ve heard it looks in good condition – I can’t wait to get started.”
