Imagine forking out more than £1000 a week commuting to your place of work and not getting paid at the end of it.
Welcome to life on the breadline of professional golf. The gap between the haves and the have-nots has never been greater and, for those leading a fairly hand- to-mouth existence, the support package provided by Team Scottish Hydro is as welcome as being left a hefty annuity by an eccentric old spinster aunt.
For Andrew McArthur, George Murray, Jack Doherty, Jamie McLeary, Lloyd Saltman, Pamela Pretswell and Kylie Walker, the seven beneficiaries for the 2013 season, the relief in knowing all their tournament- related expenses for the year will be covered is considerable. Now in its third year, the Team Scottish Hydro programme has already helped Craig Lee, Chris Doak and Callum Macaulay earn promotion to the main European Tour. The investment is reaping rewards.
"You're not on the Challenge Tour to make money, you're there to get back on to the European Tour," said Saltman, the former Open silver medal winner and all-conquering amateur who dropped off the European Tour at the end of 2011. "I was fortunate in my early pro career to have had the backing of Aegon but, for the last couple of years, I've just been working off the money I have earned. It's tough and this will take a huge amount of pressure off."
McArthur, the former Scottish Amateur champion, has been a Challenge Tour regular since 2006 – he had one, costly season on the European Tour in 2010 – and is well aware of the importance of this kind of financial leg-up. The 33-year-old has enjoyed a productive start to his latest campaign on the second-tier with a runners-up finish in India and a tie for 11th in Kenya. Getting to these places doesn't come cheap, of course, and the prizes are in contrast to those on offer at the top table.
His second place in India earned him €20,000. A similar result in this week's Malaysian Open on the main tour, for example, would be worth more than 10 times that amount.
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