Hurley completes "fairytale year" with a career-best finish in Mauritius
West Waterford's Gary Hurley
Gary Hurley is looking forward to recharging for 2023 after completing "a fairytale year" with a career-best tie for 14th in the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open.
Frenchman Antoine Rozner (29) closed with a five-under 67 at Mont Choisy Le Golf to turn a two-shot overnight lead into a five-stroke win over Spain's Alfred Garcia Heredia on 19-under par.
But Hurley was almost as pleased after he recovered from a two-over outward nine and birdied four of his last seven holes for a closing 70 and a tie for 14th on seven-under (€14,700).
The West Waterford man (29), who had no status on any tour 12 months ago, heads into the winter break ranked 44th in the DP World Tour rankings after making his first three cuts as a rookie since winning his card at the Qualifying School in November.
"It's been an amazing year for me," Hurley said. "I started on the Alps Tour this year. I had no status on the Challenge Tour. I had a few invites there and did quite well in a few of them and then went to Q- School and got my card. It was a fairytale year from the outside looking in really.
"Me and my team, we've been working really hard. We're not surprised I got through Q-School. It's a difficult thing to do, of course, but I've been playing really well all year and managed to control myself and my emotions really well that week and gave myself every chance and it happened to be enough. It's brilliant. This year I get to play on the DP World Tour. It's a big jump. So it's brilliant. I'm happy."
Hurley credits his performance coach Dr Ed Coughlan for giving him the tools to compete having come close to quitting the game a few years ago.
"I was so broken at the time," he said earlier this summer. "I was a shell and I find it hard to even relate to it now. I was really in a bad place. I spoke with Ed for 90 minutes, not really sure if I wanted to play golf anymore, and I was genuinely considering doing other things.
"Then we would work on the golf course and Ed would ask me simple questions, questioning my thoughts and it was so close to the surface, I could just break down on the course at Fota Island and we'd have to let groups through. It was a tough time, but we started to come out of it, and I started to play some nice golf and started to test myself when you put a consequence on something. But that's when the pain would come back."
He won his first event on the Alps Tour in June to secure a Challenge Tour card for 2023 but rode that momentum through the last two stages of the Qualifying School to win his card.
"What did I learn? Just about how to prepare for events properly," Hurley said. "A big part of my work is making sure that I'm ready for what could happen — the what-ifs of what happens in golf because it's so unpredictable.
"There is no right way to play the game, really. So if you're just ready for any situation, any moment, anything that happens, nothing really surprises. You're expecting everything and expecting nothing at the same time.
"So you're just kind of open to whatever comes your way and whatever doesn't go your way."
As for his finish, Hurley admitted that mental fatigue caused him to lose composure in the windy conditions for the first time all season.
"This is the last event of a really long year for me — really stressful as well the last few months," he said. "I've just been running on empty the last few days.
"I could see it in my emotions with a bad shot, getting upset over nothing, which is something I haven't been doing all year.
"But when it came to hitting the shot, I was pretty good. I didn't have my best, to be honest. But I'm really happy with my application."
He hopes to recharge now and be ready to go when the 2023 season resumes in the Middle East in January.
"My plan now is just to take some time off, to be honest, put the clubs away and just let my body try and recalibrate itself back to normal and then go again in January whenever the time comes," he said.
Holywood's Tom McKibbin, who turns 20 on Monday, ending a brilliant year with an eagle three for a final round 72 that left him tied for 40th on one-over.
The Newtownabbey star is 33rd in the Race to Dubai with four cuts made from as many starts.
As for Rozner, the Frenchman carded an eagle and three birdies on the front nine to stretch his lead to five strokes at the turn.
He then safely parred the next seven holes in breezy conditions before a bogey-birdie finish saw him end the tournament on 19 under par and banish the memory of his play-off defeat to Rasmus Højgaard in this event three years ago.
His victory in the final event of the calendar year is his third win on the DP World Tour and first since the 2021 Commercial Bank Qatar Masters.
"Unbelievable," an emotional Rozner said at the finish. "It's a tough game. We practise so hard all year long and a win is a win and I'm so glad I got this done.
"It's so hard to win, so I'm just so happy. I didn't know anything about the scores. I didn't want to have a look. I knew I was in the lead.
"I knew if I kept playing like this, there was going to be no issue at the end, but it was so hard.
I started hitting bad shots, so I think with my caddie, we did a really good job to stay focused and stay in the moment and not think about the scores and the other guys.
"We did an amazing job today."
Hoping France can go on and retain the World Cup this afternoon, he added: "There's a big football game tonight - so hopefully, we're going to get that done!
"I'm going to have a few weeks to celebrate now, so that's amazing. I couldn't ask for anything better than this."
