While Jason Scrivener is Australian by nationality, he is South African by birth and so he is relishing the opportunity to begin his European Tour career in the historic national Open of the country in which he spent the first five years of his life.
The 25 year old came from nowhere on the final day of the Qualifying School Final Stage at PGA Catalunya Resort, with five birdies in a stunning back nine launching him inside the top 25 and earning him the 18th card on offer at the European Tour Destination outside Girona.
Afterwards, the Perth native was struggling to take it all in, having been more than happy securing Challenge Tour status after making the cut in Spain, but he was delighted to have followed such Australian golf stars as Greg Norman, Geoff Ogilvy and Adam Scott by earning a European Tour card.
Before his Q-School journey, Scrivener had already proved he has what it takes to compete in the highest levels of world golf after earning a top 15 finish at the ISPS HANDA Perth International. Now, having gained encouragement from the experience, he cannot wait to spend more time amongst European golf’s elite.
“I haven’t really had time to think about it,” he said after sealing his place in The 2015 Race to Dubai. “I was just focussing on one shot at a time at Q-School, got off to a good start on the final day and it just happened to be my day.
“I was pretty set on playing Challenge Tour next year and I was happy with that to be honest. It’s huge to get on The European Tour.
“I wasn’t really in contention for a card until the last few holes so it was a different kind of pressure for me. The first few days I was a bit nervous but once I made the cut it took the pressure off.
“I’m not exactly surprised that I have made it to The European Tour but it’s a big jump for me and my career has been pretty slow up until now. It’s really big for me.”
While Scrivener admitted that he had set his sights on the US PGA Tour at a young age, he believes that the growing success of the European system in breeding many of world golf’s most prominent names turned his head.
“When I was younger I probably wanted to play in the States but there have been so many good players coming through Europe lately and it’s such a good tour,” said the former Australian Junior Champion. “I haven’t really travelled around Europe before so I’m really excited about doing that.
“Most of the top Australians have come through the European system and one of my idols growing up was Jarrod Mosely, who is from my home club and played on The European Tour for many years, and he told me what a good tour it was.
“I have always believed I had the game because I’ve competed at the top level in the last couple of years. I played the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship this year and that was pretty special so that’s when I really knew I wanted to play The European Tour. I love that links style of golf so my heart was set on it then.”
He tees it up for the first time as a European Tour Member at this week's South African Open Championship, which will be particularly special considering he spent the first few years of his life in the African nation, before moving to Zimbabwe aged five and then to Australia at the age of ten.
“I was actually born in South Africa and grew up playing golf in Zimbabwe until the age of ten,” he said.
“I went back there for the first time since leaving only three years ago, so I haven’t really been back much at all. It’s going to be fun going back and hopefully I can hit the ground running there.”
