The Longford physio on tour with golf's biggest names

This week, chartered physiotherapist Barry Mollaghan of PhysioWorks in Longford town will travel to Shanghai for a nine-day assignment, where he will be the only Irish physiotherapist among a team of three working with some of the world’s top golfers, including double Masters champion Rory McIlroy.

His job will be to ensure the sport’s elite are physically fit throughout the Dubai Port Golf Tour, formerly the European Golf Tour.​

​With 15 letters after his name, Barry’s credentials speak for themselves.

“I did a sports science degree and then a physiotherapy degree in the UK,” he explains.

“I worked in professional sport for around five years with Middlesbrough Football Club in the UK Premiership and Heart of Midlothian Football Club (Hearts) in the Scottish Premiership. About four years after leaving Harts, one of my colleagues started working with the DP World Tour."

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Barry adds, "At the time, one of the guys fell ill and they needed somebody who could step in quickly; someone who had experience in professional sports, so he put my name forward with the Head of the Performance Unit with the DPR tour."

"I had an interview, got the role and started working with them. My first tournament was the Italian Open in 2018 and I’ve been working with them since then.”

With Barry’s trip having been arranged before the war, his flight itinerary included a stop-over in Abu Dhabi.

At a time when people were fleeing the region to avoid missile attacks, necessary last minute route adjustments were made so he could instead fly from London Heathrow straight to Shanghai. 

Now in his eighth year on the tour, Barry has had many a golfing icon on his physio table, including Rory McIlroy. 

“I have worked on Rory before. He’s amazing and now he's a double Masters champion as well, which is unbelievable. A second Masters in a row is like a fairy-tale. I’m just so happy for him and what he's achieved. It's just an amazing feat.”

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As one of three physiotherapists responsible for all golfers on the DP World Tour, Barry will be based in the incredibly beautiful Enhance Anting Golf Club in Shanghai.

Describing his role, he says, “It’s far from a 9-5 sort of job. I might see 15 to 20 players a day for everything from pre-round tuning to intensive recovery sessions after their 18 holes. My job is to ensure that the players are physically tournament-ready every single morning, so for each day that they play. There could be 150 players in the field.”

Working with household names is the dream for most but also brings with it a considerable element of pressure.

“I like the challenge,” Barry explains, “Working with professional athletes, the stakes are high because it's their livelihoods. If a player feels a tweak on a Wednesday, it's my job to make sure that they can tee off on the Thursday. It's nice to stretch yourself professionally and I get to meet my other colleagues as well from around Europe, which is nice.

“We're so lucky, the venues we go to are some of the best in the world, and I get to see all the latest technology in sport and see the advancements in my profession. It helps me keep my finger on the pulse.” 

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While Barry is in Shanghai, his PhysioWorks clinic here in Longford will remain open, being run by his colleague Cian. Once the DP tour has completed, Barry will be resuming physio work in his Dublin Road base.

“I'm lucky to be in the role I have with the European tours; just blessed to have it. I really do enjoy what I'm doing with them. It's nice to dip in and dip out of elite support and then come back to my clinic in Longford. I love it.”