Cash strapped Hurley makes good

Simon Hurley is so strapped for cash that if he fails to win any money in Morocco this week he will not be able to afford to play golf again this year.

The 35-year-old from Bristol only made it out to Agadir by putting his air fare and hotel accommodation on his credit card - because he doesn't have to pay that bill for five weeks.

He has been making ends meet by working as an assistant manager at a Bristol Hotel and almost gave up the game he loves.

But Hurley could sleep easy after a four-under-par round of 68 on the Royal Golf Links put him into joint fifth place in the Moroccan Open, just one stroke behind the joint leaders David Park from Wales, Spain's Miguel Angel Martin, Eric Carlberg of Sweden and Frenchman Jean-Pierre Cixous.

Hurley has been dogged by a wrist and arm injury which means he has played a total of just three months' golf in the past three years. He has yet to make a cut on the Challenge Tour this season, missing all five in the events he has played in.

But Hurley found his oasis in the Agadir desert on Thursday in his first main Tour event as he made five birdies and just one bogey on a course which proved tough for the majority of the field.

Even so, Hurley will not allow himself to get too carried away by the heroics which surprised even him.

"If I don't win this week I doubt if I will be playing again this year," he said. "As you can imagine, three years not playing and having a bad start to the year means I just haven't got any funds at the moment.

"I really need to win some money this week. I got here on my credit card and I've got another five weeks to pay that bill. I shall just go out and do my best, I've got no great expectations but it would be very nice to finish in the top 10."

Hurley - no relation to actress and model Liz - got his European Tour card in 1995 but injured his wrist in the first event of 1996, the Catalan Open, when he hit a rock.

Three operations and constant treatment restricted the amount of golf he has played, but after making a comeback in February he hopes the arm will be back to normal strength.

"It has not been a lot of fun being home for three years," said Hurley. "It has not been a fun year this year so far so I'll see how it goes this week. I've played in five Challenge Tour events and missed all the cuts but I've just got a new set of Callaway clubs - the same as Colin Montgomerie's - and I like the shafts.

"I think if I had the opportunity to earn some money doing something else I might have given up. But there is nothing else I have ever wanted to do, I've always wanted to play golf."

While the Challenge Tour players enjoyed performing on the bigger stage today, none of the favourites in the weakened field here broke par.

Italian Costantino Rocca shot one-over-par while Alex Cejka of Germany and Englishman David Howell both finished on two-over.

Justin Rose's hopes of following up last week's money-making performance in Austria - where he finished fourth - with another good tournament, suffered a blow as he never recovered from a bogey, double-bogey start on his way to an 11-over-par 83 and he now faces a struggle to avoid missing his 21st consecutive cut on the main Tour.