By Will Pearson, europeantour.com
While those in the upper echelons of The 2014 Race to Dubai will shortly be turning their attention towards the Final Series, to Dubai, and perhaps even the big-money Bonus Pool, some lower-placed players competing in Hong Kong and Australia over the next fortnight have just one thing in mind: survival.
With time rapidly running out in which to move inside the critical top 110 in the season-long competition – positions which will automatically retain playing privileges for 2015 – those in and around the bubble with just two tournaments remaining face a high-stakes, high-pressure finale, and a lung-busting push for the line across two continents.
This week, the Hong Kong Open grants a first chance for salvation for those perched precariously close to the ‘drop-zone’, while seven days hence the ISPS Handa Perth International in Western Australia represents last chance saloon for a number of campaigners, both seasoned and green.
At 102nd place currently, England’s Mark Foster travels to Hong Kong Golf Club this week knowing that, for the second year running, he faces something of a grinding finish in a bid to maintain his status as a European Tour professional after finishing 100th in 2013.
Foster journeys east on the back of some encouraging form of late, however, having captured a season-best finish of tied 11th at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship two weeks ago.
Two-time European Tour winner Steve Webster is also currently inside the qualification mark at 103rd place as it stands but is still in need of a good couple of performances to make doubly-sure – as is compatriot Tom Lewis, the 2011 Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year, who currently sits one place worse off heading into this crucial stretch.
Lewis, who burst on to the scene in stunning fashion with victory at the 2011 Portugal Masters in just his third professional start, had also looked in danger of losing his European Tour card in 2013 before a superb third place finish at the Alfred Dunhill Links helped the 23 year old to a 94th place finish in The Race to Dubai that year, but at 104th this time round he needs more heroics either in Hong Kong or in the southern hemisphere next week.
For many in and around the cut-off mark of 110, a nerve-jangling trip to the gruelling, six-round marathon that is the Qualifying School Final Stage awaits – something Denmark’s Lucas Bjerregaard knows all about.
The 23 year old claimed the 21st card at the Final Stage at PGA Catalunya Resort last November but following a testing maiden campaign on The European Tour, the man affectionately known as ‘The Bear’ lies bang on 110th place with two massive weeks ahead of him.
Also loitering on the brink as it stands are former champion Lee Slattery (111th), 2012 Rookie of the Year Ricardo Santos (112th) and last year’s Q-School victor Carlos Del Moral (115th), but for inspiration and success stories from men previously burdened by similar pressures you only have to look back over the last two years.
In 2012, Tommy Fleetwood showed the mettle of a man for the future as he coolly carded a 69 in the final round of the South African Open Championship at Serengeti Golf and Wildlife Estate to secure his full European Tour playing card for the following season - a retention he would go on to embrace in superb fashion.
“It feels better than a win pretty much!" Fleetwood reflected at the time. "It was probably the most stressful four days of my life I think."
Fleetwood duly delivered on his enormous potential in August the following year, winning his maiden European Tour title at the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles en route to a 26th place finish in The 2013 Race to Dubai, and this year is on the verge of the lucrative bonus pool in 16th position.
Meanwhile, just 12 months ago, Ireland's Peter Lawrie gritted his teeth and battled with every fibre of his being to retain his playing rights at the ISPS HANDA Perth International.
The 2008 Open de España winner started that week 115th in The Race to Dubai but a two under par 70 was enough to finish in a share of 18th place at Lake Karrinyup and a move inside the all-important top 110.
“I'm just glad it's over to be totally honest with you,” he said afterwards. “I've never felt so much pressure as the last eight weeks. I can't sleep, can't eat properly, it’s just horrendous. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy."
For some hovering in and around the 110 mark in the money-list, there is in the ‘parachute’ back-up of tournament victories and career earnings keeping them safe, for the time being, from the clutches of relegation.
Søren Kjeldsen, for one, has been a permanent fixture on The European Tour since his debut season in 1998 and it has been superbly-consistent career in the 17 years since.
But following just one top ten finish in 2014 – a third place at the D+D Czech Masters in August – the 39 year old languishes in 105th place.
After the diminutive Dane stood tall at the British Masters to narrowly retain his card in his maiden year on Tour, Kjeldsen has since 1999 seized three European Tour victories and has finished no worse off than 69th and therefore, at 32nd in the all-time Career Money List, is protected from losing his card.
Scotland’s Paul Lawrie’s exemption from his 2012 win at the Commercialbank Qatar Masters runs out at the close of the 2014 season, but he too is safeguarded by his 26th place on the Career Money List, while Brett Rumford, at 117th in The Race to Dubai currently, still has another year to run on his card thanks to back-to-back tournament victories in 2013.
Former European Ryder Cup captains José María Olazábal and Paul McGinley, at 166th and 170th in this year’s Race to Dubai respectively, are also shielded by their status inside the top 40 on the Career Money List.
Just two weeks remain for the 2014 ‘Bubble Boys’, the endangered men, to make a decisive move and challenges both mental and physical await.
With endurance, focus, concentration and an iron-will in tow, who can flourish at the last, and whose eyes will be drifting towards Catalunya and a winter date with Qualifying School destiny?
Perhaps, to end, some words from a man well-versed in the art of keeping his head above water.
“Survival can be summed up in three words - never give up,” says British adventurer Bear Grylls. “That's the heart of it really. Just keep trying.”
