After a disappointing end to last season and an extended break to help "find himself emotionally, mentally and physically", Justin Walters is in a rebuilding year and looking to regain momentum.
Walters is a man who understands that with 21 years as a professional golfer, inevitable ups and downs in form, and in life, come with the territory. Even still, losing his card last year on the DP World Tour came as a bit of a shock.
Between April and July, the South African had made eight consecutive cuts with a high of tied 18th at the Volvo Car Scandinavian Mixed. A withdrawal from the Genesis Scottish Open only seemed to temporarily halt that momentum, but he followed it with back-to-back top 40 finishes at the D+D Real Czech Masters and Omega European Masters. At the time, those results only seemed to confirm a steady stretch of golf that would inevitably continue. Until it didn’t.
What followed was two missed cuts, a withdrawal from the weather-affected Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, and three more missed cuts to end his season in Qatar, ultimately slipping out of the required top 116 in the Race to Dubai Rankings to 135th and losing his playing rights for the first time since 2017. The quick and unexpected unraveling of his season left Walters needing a break from the game.
“What happened last year was pretty hard to digest for me,” Walters told the DP World Tour.
“So, in the end, I fell off the ledge immensely and I had to take three months off. I just had to get away from the game. I had to find myself a little bit emotionally, mentally, physically. For three months, I just kind of didn't really touch a club. I played here and there just to stay a little bit in touch."
He didn’t make his return until February, where he competed on the European Challenge Tour with a run of three events in South Africa, making the cut in his first start back at the SDC Open and following it up with a tie for 18th a week later at the Bain's Whisky Cape Town Open. His next two starts – a Challenge Tour event and a start in the Magical Kenya Open on the DP World Tour – came with missed cuts, and Walters admits it shows he still has a bit of rust to work through.
“Starting out this year and playing in South Africa I actually was half decent, but the last couple I've shown, you know that I've, the three months rust has definitely come through, so going forward I definitely got to get some work done.
“I need to improve and kind of try and get back to the level where I was at the beginning of last year, in the middle of last year, where I was actually going along nicely. So I think it's a rebuilding year. If I had to describe it.”
Emerging now from one of the tougher stretches of his career, the 43-year-old is focused on treating this as a rebuilding year as he tries to make the most of limited starts and regain some confidence on the course.
There is also an element of decision-making for him too, as to whether he stays patient for starts with his partial status category on the DP World Tour or commits to a run of Challenge Tour events to make his way back that way.
Ultimately though, his goal is to regain some of the momentum that he’s lost.
“With partial status on this Tour, the full card on the Challenge Tour you kind of face the prospect of do I just kind of dedicate myself to Challenge Tour because I know I can set a schedule and play when I need to and get in a bit of a rhythm? Or do you kind of wait last minute and get last-minute call-ups for events and play?
"I mean (I’m playing) the next two with some help from from the Tour, so that's been great. I think the way I looked at it is I've played three Challenge, three main tours and see if I had any kind of positive momentum on either one and then maybe go from there.
"But I think going forward, I might have an idea of what events I'd get into on the main tour and then try and build some Challenge Tour events either side of it, so I can at least have a two or three-week stretch. Because to go to America to then come back to Europe and just play one and then go back is a bit tricky, so I'll probably end up doing something along those lines. I'm looking forward to when both Tours just kind of come back to Europe a little bit, it's easier to get in a run and not such a tough to ask with travel.
"It's going to be a time where I've really got to kind of buckle down and get my game back to where it was and then when I do get a chance to use it."
This week presents one of those for Walters, who will be playing in back-to-back events on South African soil at the SDC Championship and Jonsson Workwear Open.
While he missed the cut in the first of those two events last year, Walters is philosophical about the future and hoping to make the most of the opportunity in his home country, particularly when he heads to Glendower in the second week - a place he grew up playing.
"It's where I started, where I grew up playing. Obviously not the first week not as much, but certainly Glendower and Joburg, is where I learned the game and learned to love it and work hard and put in long days and find the game.
"Even when I struggled, and I mean I've been professional for 21 years, it's unrealistic to expect it to be plain sailing all the time.
"You're always going to have times of struggle and strife. But I think in those moments, that's where you learn, learn your trade and you learn more about yourself and you improve and work on things that you need to work on and then it will come through eventually.
"I just probably need some reps and keep putting myself in position to try and test my game and the work I'm putting in and hopefully the hard work pays off.
"I had a pretty bad week last week. It would be nice to just have a solid finish, I mean top 20 would be great, or top ten. Obviously you play to win and you try do that, but sometimes you have got to be a little bit realistic of where you are at.
"I think when I get that sense of momentum with my game and my year, that's when I start to play better golf. To get momentum, you gotta have little mini battles. Your practises have to get better, your moments of challenges where you challenge yourself on chipping contests or on the putting green or on the range.
"All of these little things, you start to overcome those and you build a little bit of momentum in your practise and then that spills over into the course and then suddenly you start to make a few birdies in a row and get that feeling back again. It's more for me how I feel on the golf course, my goal is just to feel a little more comfortable again and enjoy being out there. It's a privilege to be able to do what we do, and I think sometimes when you're under a bit of pressure, we tend to not enjoy as much, so be nice to find a little bit of enjoyment and momentum. If I could get that out of the next two weeks and I can take that forward for the rest of the year.
