Mark Travers is ready to fleece his Ireland team-mates when they hit the golf course on their day off tomorrow.
But the Bournemouth goalkeeper might have been raking in the dough as a pro golfer had things panned out differently.
As a teenager, the Maynooth man was playing off four and pocketed prestigious prizes on the boys circuit around Ireland.
He contemplated moving to America on a scholarship but his performances in goal for Cherry Orchard and Shamrock Rovers at that time were not going unnoticed.
“I'm going to keep that one for myself and I may put a bit of money on it and see what happens,” he laughed when asked if Ireland team-mates were aware of his golfing prowess.
“I played quite a bit when I was younger. It’s all I did up to 14 or 15 and I was going to play golf instead of football.
“I played in GUI events, loads of them as a kid. My Dad took me everywhere around the country.
“It helped me with my football career, getting that experience in front of people even though it was a different sport.
“I knew it was a tough sport to go down mentally, being by yourself all day and a lot of hours practising. In the end I thought football was the better decision.
“As a goalkeeper you're by yourself in games - the psychology is quite similar and it can be quite lonely.
“You have to put mistakes behind you and not be afraid of anything.”
Travers was catapulted into the limelight this month after a man-of-the-match showing for Bournemouth in their 1-0 win over Spurs in the penultimate game of the season.
And he retained the gloves for the madcap 5-3 defeat at Crystal Palace in the final game of the campaign.
For the Spurs game, Cherries boss Eddie Howe pulled him the day before and broke the news that he would be starting and suggested he got his family over for the day.
“The night before, you think about everything. But it only hits you in the tunnel when you look across and (World Cup winner) Hugo Lloris is standing there.
“It just gave me more confidence to do well, it didn’t make me nervous. I felt I was meant to be there.
“He pulled me after the game and just said well done and to keep going. I’m gutted I didn’t ask for his jersey but it was just in the moment that I forgot to ask for it.”
That night - and with his parents over - the family sat down to watch Match of the Day, where pundits raved about his performance.
“It only started to sink in around then. Watching it was a bit surreal. You watch it every week and suddenly they’re talking about you, it was unbelievable.
“But I learnt even more from the second game about myself - it was good to have that contrast in games and I’ll take that into next season.”
Travers is unsure if he will be sent out on loan next season but insists he is ready to fight for the No 1 spot.
The Cherries are heavily linked with Jack Butland as Artur Boruc and Asmir Begovic’s respective futures at the club are unclear.
He said: “If that’s the option I have to go down just to play games, we'll have to see. Hopefully I can get back at Bournemouth.”
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