With just two events remaining in the European Challenge Tour season, focus inevitably intensifies on the top 15 of the Road to Oman and, arriving at the Ras Al Khaimah 2017 Golf Challenge, James Heath is more aware of the peculiar pressures than most.
The Englishman narrowly failed to earn a European Tour card last year, faltering in the third round of the NBO Golf Classic Grand Final and ultimately finishing 20th in the Rankings, just four spots shy of graduation.
Previous near misses – in 2005 he was three places short, while two years ago he was two spots outside the top 45 who compete in the Grand Final – as well as a philosophical attitude towards the game of golf mean that Heath does not come across as a man under pressure as he prepares at Al Hamra Golf Club.
“I really feel like I’ve done it all, and quite a lot!” said the 34 year old. “But I have to play better golf, it’s as simple as that, because even when I’ve been on the European Tour I haven’t been good enough to stay there.
“Go back to 2005 and 2006 and it was top 20 in the Rankings that went up. I think I finished 23rd. Then I did get my card but I’ve been just outside the top 45 a couple of times and just outside the top 15, like last year.
“I haven’t played to that level consistently for a good while, not through lack of trying, but it’s about letting that game come out and not getting in your own way.
“For me it’s about getting in that right frame of mind where you’re not thinking about top 45, top 15, winning, you’re just doing the best that you can, and if the game is good enough then you’ll get over the line.”
After so long knocking on the door, tasting the high life only to struggle to stay there, and now with the additional responsibilities of a young family, it is unsurprising that Heath – a man very much in touch with the psychological quandaries golf offers – has been wrestling with what might come next.
However, with one good result potentially securing a long-term future of European Tour golf, he is also trying to focus on the immediate issue of finding form in the next fortnight.
I make no qualms about the fact that I've threatened to pack it all in many times - I didn't sign up for this, but you're one swing thought away from a really good period of golf
“I didn’t sign up for this position, I signed up for playing really well in world class events," he said. "It’s a bit of an emotional rollercoaster really, but this is where we are, I make no bones about it, I’m just trying to do what I need to do to give myself a shot at getting there again.
“I make no qualms about the fact that I have threatened to pack it all in about 16 or 17 times! I’ve got some sort of attitude problem where I’m either really into it or I’m really despondent, mood swings all over the place.
“When I’m into it, I’m into it, but when I’m not I get myself to the point of wondering whether I can do this any more, keep putting myself through it, then two days later it’s all change again – I always say that you’re one swing thought away from a really good period of golf.
“I’m still here though. I make no secret of the fact that I’m looking forward to my next career and putting this all to bed, once and for all! But that said, I’ll still get up early and put the work in, and we’ll see how the end of this year goes.
“That’s a difficulty too, planning ahead. I’ve got a family, another kid on the way, and you’re thinking about that but you also just need to be present in what you’re doing if you want to play good golf.
“On the one hand I’m thinking about playing for my family, but to play the best golf you can you need to stop thinking about the future and the planning and what a good result means and its importance and just get on with playing the game.”
Playing into Heath’s hands is his performance in Ras Al Khaimah 12 months ago, tying for sixth place in the inaugural staging of the tournament, and he is hopeful of repeating the trick this week.
“I did have a good week here last year,” he said. “It’s a course that definitely suits my game, I think length is an advantage, and the rough’s been grown up a bit since last year which I also think is good.
“The course is good, the game is definitely there – last week on Thursday I felt I was playing some of the best golf I’ve played in a very long time, I’m just very inconsistent on the greens.
“The first five and the last five holes here are scoreable but around the turn you tend to have some wind, some really good holes but some tough holes too.
“I really played well here last year so I feel like it’s quite an easy golf course, if that makes sense, because I was really on it – hopefully I can do the same this week, have a really simple game and feel like the golf course is easy and just churn out some good numbers.”
