This time last year Max Orrin was in his teens and preparing to embark on a maiden professional campaign in which he hoped to gain some experience, learn his craft and earn a European Challenge Tour card for the following season – however, he would end up doing a lot better than that.
The Kent native, still just 20 years of age, is in Nairobi this week for the Barclays Kenya Open after a thrilling finish to 2014 that almost saw him hurtle through the Rankings and claim a European Tour card in the final stages of another thrilling second tier season.
He would go on to finish 32nd at the Grand Final the following week en route to 22nd in the season-long Rankings, narrowly missing out on a quick-fire ascent to The European Tour at the first time of asking, but he will tee it up at Karen Country Club this week excited about what 2015 holds having had a taste of what he is playing for on The European Tour already this season.
“It has been a long time since the last event on the Challenge Tour, but luckily for me I have had a few events to keep my competitive golf up, so I’m definitely excited and raring to go,” said the former amateur star, who represented Great Britain & Ireland in the 2013 Walker Cup and has made three cuts in four appearances on The European Tour so far this year.
“I’ve had quite a lot of time at home not knowing until late whether I have got into events, so it has been quite difficult to plan, and I have just been trying to work as hard as I can with my coach and the team back home to make sure I am ready for each week.
“I have played quite well so far this year, but not really had the scores or results, so I’m hoping the work that we have done last week while I was at home can produce some scores this week. I’ve been spending a lot of time on my putting, as last year I was very solid from tee to green, but I perhaps didn’t putt to the best of my ability. It is getting better and better, slowly, so it is about taking that practice onto the course now.
Orrin finished in a tie for 50th at the Trophee Hassan II last month, but his best European Tour finish came last December when he recorded a share of 33rd place at the Alfred Dunhill Championship
“The standard on The European Tour is always great, and you get looked after very well. So far I have played with some great guys, and it is a great experience. It is what everyone out here is trying to play for, so to have experienced some of it already is an even bigger incentive to play well and graduate at the end of the year, or win three times and move up straight away.
“I played the Saturday and Sunday in Morocco recently with Anthony Wall, and he is a really great guy. He had a lot of good advice for me, and to learn from someone who has been around for some time and played well for so many years, it was a great experience for me personally.”
It has been a rather meteoric rise through the professional ranks so far for the man from Margate, who gives off a more confident air in the run up to this week’s event in Kenya, no doubt as a result of having had plenty of time off over the winter to digest his recent successes.
Orrin readily admits that he perhaps did not expect the extent to which he played towards the end of the campaign, content with retaining his Challenge Tour privileges in 2015, so having done some way better than that he is now looking to build on his form and challenge for graduation once again.
“It was a slow start last year as I was just playing on invites, and I didn’t start too well,” said the Englishman.
I was just hanging around and trying to get top 70 on the Rankings for the end of the year, then it all came together in one week in Oman, and a strong finish got me close to graduating, but not quite close enough.
“So it was a strange year really as it went from being average to very strong quite fast, but I know now I have the game to win out here and compete, so hopefully I can get some money up early doors and give myself a good chance of graduating this year.
“It is a great feeling to win, and everyone out here is trying to do it, so I think the main goal would be to get a card this season. There are many different ways of doing it, but that is the goal, and even if I didn’t win this year if I got my card I would definitely be happy.”
As for this week in Kenya, at the picturesque venue just outside the nation’s capital, Orrin has high hopes on a course that he believes will suit the accuracy and consistency he prides himself on.
He said: “The course is very nice, it is up at altitude and it is pretty tight, so the ball is going a bit further. You have to be straight, and you don’t have to hit it too far or bomb it, and I feel like it is a course that suits my game if I’m playing well as I am quite steady and straight.
“I’m looking forward to this week as I have been playing well for a while, and hopefully the work I have been putting in of late will see me put some good low scores on the board and give me a chance to win on Sunday.
“It can be difficult in the winter with the Challenge Tour not starting until the spring, but I am so excited to get started now.”
