Eddie Pepperell can’t be accused of a lack of effort or dedication. While his goal of retaining his DP World Tour card for another year may not have been realised, for now at least, he insists he will be better for the experience and is embracing the task set in front of him.
After a sluggish start to the 2024 Race to Dubai season, during which he made just three cuts in his first eight starts, the Englishman was always playing catch up.
As a result, over the weekend at the Genesis Championship in South Korea where the regular season drew to a close, Pepperell made what was his 11th consecutive start on the DP World Tour, a run dating back to mid-August.
It is little surprise he conceded to being “disoriented” on his return back home to England earlier this week after a 34th-place finish at Jack Nicklaus Golf Club saw him fall six spots shy of the 114th cut-off on the Race to Dubai Rankings in Partnership with Rolex for full playing rights next season.
But despite the inevitable disappointment, the 33-year-old took heart from his play in what is for some the most gut-wrenching week of the campaign.
“The pressure was present, and I was feeling it,” said Pepperell in the latest episode of The Chipping Forecast, a podcast he co-hosts alongside broadcaster Andrew Cotter and regular guest Iain Carter, the BBC’s golf correspondent.
“After having the year that I’ve had, by and large where I haven’t had that sensation at any point, it was quite nice to feel that.
“What I really wanted to do was go and contend for the golf tournament, because at the same time I didn’t just need to make the cut, I needed to have a good finish, a top ten really and so that is quite different from making the cut.”
With three birdies in the final five holes of his second round last Friday, Pepperell played his way from outside the cut line to inside and thereby kept his hopes alive of a 13th consecutive campaign on the DP World Tour.
However, his efforts were to be in vain as a bogey-free four-under-par 68 in the final round was not good enough to help him claim enough Race to Dubai points.
But don’t think for one minute it has made him downcast, if anything it is the opposite. As a two-time winner on the DP World Tour, his opinion of the challenge of needing to perform well in one scenario so late in the day is a far bigger source of pressure than what he experienced when he won twice in the 2018 season in Qatar and on home soil at the British Masters.
“The gap wedge I hit into 18 [in South Korea], I literally couldn’t feel my arms because I knew that it was a shot you couldn’t afford to [mess] up and I hit it to a foot,” he reflected. “But it was immense pressure I have got to say.
“I did play very well coming in which did give me some encouragement because I felt like I hit the best shots when I was most nervous which hasn’t always happened in my career and doesn’t happen invariably for a lot of golfers.”
And so, along with several other well-known players, Pepperell now faces a trip to Spain next week for Qualifying School, where he will hope to repeat what he did in 2016 by coming through the six-round Final Stage.
Back then, when it was staged at PGA Catalunya, he came into the event shortly after a missed cut in Portugal when he appeared set to make the halfway mark only to hit his drive out of bounds on the final hole for a double-bogey.
“I am not at all daunted by the prospect,” he said. “In fact, I am quite looking forward to it to be honest with you and having that mindset will help. I am quietly optimistic about it.”
However, should Pepperell be successful in his quest, he knows he can’t repeat certain decisions he took if he is to maximise his performances next season.
“The big thing I take away from this year is how poorly I have scheduled and the way I have felt as a consequence of that has been the most eye-opening and enlightening thing for me,” he said, revealing he took time off after experiencing an unspecified “episode” at the BMW International Open in early summer.
Having married his long-time girlfriend Jennifer earlier this year, he added: “I have not got the balance right and there are more important things, like my relationship with Jen that I need to consider and prioritise.
“It has been all consuming for too long and that is the thing I do want to change moving forward.”
