Challenge Tour

Why it's time for the golfing Gods to shine on Scotland's patient golfer

By Admin 9/30/2024
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BY Martin Dempster - The Scotsman

It’s not just Rory McIlroy who deserves the golfing Gods to be kind to him before this year is out. It would be cruel, after all, if Euan Walker came up agonisingly short for the third season running in his bid to step up to the DP World Tour as a Challenge Tour graduate.

Needing to finish in the top 20 in the Road to Mallorca Rankings to join the likes of Bob MacIntyre, Grant Forrest, Ewen Ferguson, David Law, Calum Hill and Connor Syme in securing promotion from the second-tier circuit in the past few years, the Ayrshireman finished 24th in 2022 then 26th last year.

On both occasions, Walker decided against paying a visit to the DP World Tour Qualifying School when that would have offered him an alternative route in his quest to earn a seat at the top table, sticking to his belief that a card gained through the Challenge Tour will give him a better chance of a sustained spell on the main circuit.

“I think in order to take advantage of the Q-School card, you’ve probably got to have some experience of the DP World Tour,” observed Walker, a highly-intelligent individual. “I think you’ve got to know some of the courses and I think it is difficult for a first-time tour player unless you are a prodigious talent. My strategy has been aimed at giving myself maximum opportunity to retain a DP World Tour card because, let’s be honest, there’s no point in getting a Q-School card but then losing it and being back in the same position at the end of the year. You want to get your DP World Tour card and stay there.”

As, of course, MacIntyre, Forrest, Ferguson, Law, Hill and Syme have all done after using the Challenge Tour as a vital stepping stone in their careers and now, on the back of his weekend win in the weather-hit Swiss Challenge – the event was reduced to 36 holes due to constant inclement conditions and a flooded course – Walker has teed up another chance to take the first big step in his bid to do likewise.

Having jumped from 45th to 21st in the Road to Mallorca Rankings with just three regular events remaining on the schedule, the 29-year-old has definitely achieved his initial goal for the season of securing a spot in the Challenge Tour Grand Final supported by The R&A at Club de Golf Alcanada in Port d'Alcúdia in a month’s time.

That means another nervous week for his parents, Rona and Eric, if, as seems likely, they head out again to the Balearics to provide support and company during a pressure-packed event, which is also set to feature Daniel Young, who sits 30th in the standings, while Ryan Lumsden (70th), Craig Howie (84th) and Jack McDonald (95th) all need a big performance in either this week’s Czech Challenge or a double-header in China to be involved in the card shoot-out as well.

“I don’t think I can approach it differently,” said Walker of a second title triumph on the circuit having set up his latest chance to get over the line. “I’ve just got to go out and try to play the best I can. In golf, you can do all the preparation but you just don’t really know when you are going to perform at your peak. It is a little bit random. Everything can go perfectly in a build up yet you still don’t quite perform at your best. On the other hand, you can have no build up at all and perform at your best. I’ve just got to try and be as relaxed as possible.”

Dane Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen and Englishman John Parry have both already secured automatic promotion on the back of each winning three times this season, with five-time DP World Tour winner Alex Levy, 2019 Genesis Scottish Open runner-up Benjamin Hebert and this year’s Farmfoods Scottish Challenge champion Brandon Robinson-Thompson among the players currently sitting above Walker in the top 20.

As for those who could be breathing down his neck in the Grand Final, former Dunhill Links champion Lucas Bjerregaard and four-time main tour winner David Horsey are both handily-placed at a stage in the season when experience can almost be an extra club in the bag.

“I think I am in a slightly better position this year as I have started playing really well at the right moment,” declared Walker, who reckoned he’d hit every single shot in his title-winning six-under-par 66 in the second and final round at Golf Saint Apollinaire without making a single mistake on a tricky course.

“Two years ago, I left it a bit late. By the time I went into the final, I was probably needing a top five to secure a top-20 spot. This year, I’ve got three events left – the three biggest of the year – and my confidence is high. My long game over the last few weeks has been better than it’s ever been and I’ve just got to keep doing what I have been doing.

“My scoring average this year is better than ever before. It’s 70.02 after this week, but, even with that, I am sitting just outside the top 20. I think that shows how golf rewards volatile performances. You’d rather be amazing one week and rubbish the next week. That’s almost been my problem this season. I’ve been consistently good, but my good weeks haven’t been good enough.”

The latest one apart, of course, and Walker, who incidentally, is now the proud owner a cowbell, though, a smaller one than the actually trophy he was presented with on Sunday, is one of those players who should be listened to by aspiring professionals in Scotland because, as he has found out, it takes patience for the vast majority in the game to make proper headway.

Here’s hoping those golfing Gods agree it is time in early November for that to be rewarded in Walker’s case.