Brian Doran on a year to remember

One machine sends out the tablets in a blister, it arrives into his machine and then the robot arm pulls the blister and puts it into a carton with the insert which includes the information. Next it will be packaged into a bundle and into a shipper, that gets put onto a pallet and shipped to its destination.

Precision is key for Brian Doran, and the package operator who works on Covid-19 drugs and the birth control pill in Pfizer, has an eye for detail on and off the golf course.

This year he has transformed his golf game, from a point where he almost cut back drastically on his tournament appearances during a poor run of form in April, he has won a Mullingar Scratch Cup, represented Ireland at the European Mid-Amateur Team Championships and just this week, claimed the Bridgestone Men’s Order of Merit.

“My girlfriend and I were lying on the couch on Saturday evening, just looking at TV. We said we would do our top ten reflections for the year. Aoife would try pick my top ten and I would put them in order,” said Doran.

“It sounds mad to even think about it. Driving home in the car on Friday evening, I just said to Aoife, I did it. I don’t know how but I did it.

“It’s a funny game, everyone knows that with golf. Anything can happen in a couple of days never mind a couple of months. It has been an unbelievable year.

“I don’t know how to sum it up. You just have to stay going through the tough times to see can you come out the other end.

“If you said to me you’ll win the tournament in Mullingar, I would have bitten your hand off for it. But to have everything else in between. It’s just been quite surreal to be honest.”

Doran hails from Narraghmore, just outside Kilcullen and was able to avail of the booming Young Masters of Golf in Rathsallagh as a junior.

He was ten years old when he first joined a summer camp along with a few of his friends from the local football club. There were up to 200 juniors playing golf there at the time.

Brendan McDaid was the head professional and he had several assistants working alongside, including Tom O’Neill.

O’Neill is still Doran’s coach to this day, 12 months on from a watershed moment in his golfing career. The Millicent golfer made the decision to put everything into golf in 2024.

“I did a lot of strength and conditioning with Robbie Cannon over the winter, I would have gone to the gym beforehand but it was upper body stuff like every other young lad,” said Doran.

“He put me through my paces with a programme and that stood me well over the course of the year.

“Last year it was made aware to me that my scores in Lahinch and Mullingar weren’t great. It’s not nice seeing your name down at the bottom of the leaderboard.

“I just said to Aoife that I would give it a go this year.”