'My shoulder will never be 100pc again, but I’ve no pain' - Hurley upbeat after injury scare

Gary Hurley in the days before his shoulder injury.

Gary Hurley has had his share of ups and downs over the years but after overcoming mental health challenges and a career-threatening shoulder injury, he’s upbeat heading to this week’s NTT DATA Pro-Am at Fancourt Golf Estate.

The HotelPlanner Tour season has started well for the West Waterford man (33), who missed all of last season as he suffered a shoulder injury caused by Parsonage-Turner Syndrome.

Hurley found a way to swing pain-free again, and while it was touch and go as to his fitness, he began the season well, making the cut in the SDC Open, where he finished joint 65th on level par.

Last week, he opened with a 65 to share the first round lead and while a second round 73 dampened his title chances, weekend rounds of 70 and 69 left him solo ninth, giving him his first top 10 finish in 20 months.

Hurley joins Conor Purcell, Max Kennedy and Liam Nolan at Fancourt this week, and he’s grateful just to be pain-free.

“I’m very happy with my application the last month or so to get my game and my body to a place where I felt I could compete and contend,” said Hurley.

“My shoulder is still very weak and compromised and will never be 100pc again, but I’ve no pain, and it’s slowly improving each month thanks to the help of the doctors and physios and most of all time as nerve damage needs time to heal.”

Thanks to physiotherapy, he can now load his shoulder better and feels no pain

“Obviously, I’m very happy with my performance and application this week and last week, having not competed in over a year,” he said.

“But I’m more pleased with how my body is holding up after two intense weeks out here.”

As for his injury, he explained last week that it almost ended his career.

“About three weeks ago I actually wasn’t going to come out here,” he said. “About a year ago, I woke up one day and couldn’t lift up my arm and didn’t know what it was. I went to see a specialist and she said I had Parsonage-Turner Syndrome, which in my case affected a spinal nerve that controls everything with how you move your shoulder.

“It took so long to recover and last September I was starting to look at doing other things outside of golf. Then I started working with my coach to find a way to load my shoulder differently in the swing. It doesn’t seem to cause me pain anymore. I’m delighted.”