Golf can be a ghoulish old pursuit.

For us crude amateurs, torment, torture and an overwhelming sense of the heebie jeebies lurk around every corner. The mere glimpse of a small pond shimmering next to a fairly routine par-3, for instance, is enough to leave us shrieking and wailing like a banshee that's just stubbed its paranormal toe on a gravestone.

It could be worse, of course: we could play this game for a living. The final event of the European Tour season can be an X-rated horror show for those involved in the grim battle to safeguard their cards. Hands-over-the-eyes stuff all right.

"It was bloody stressful and just a horrible, horrible week," reflected Craig Lee, who peered over the perilous precipice but held on by his fingertips at the conclusion of the Perth International in Australia last weekend.

By his own account, Lee enjoyed the kind of weird, supernatural visit that would have had Scooby Doo and his cartoon cronies revving up the Mystery Machine and heading Down Under to investigate. The Stirling man was flirting with a potentially devastating missed cut on the Friday until he birdied four holes in a row on his back nine to survive into the weekend and eventually finish 108th on the final money list with the top 111 keeping their tour cards.

"It's hard to explain," added Lee as he tried to explain the unexplainable. "I had no idea where it came from. I said to the car driver after my round 'I don't know who that golfer was or where he came from but I hope he stays around for a while'. I felt I'd been possessed by another person. It was spooky.

"I was two-over and things were all a bit sombre but after holing a 20-footer on the 12th I just found something. My caddie tried to speak to me, just to chat for a bit of comfort on the closing stretch, but I said 'don't speak to me, I'm in a zone and I don't want to lose it'. The relief of making the cut and knowing I was in control of my tour career was huge. Afterwards, my caddie said 'where the hell did that come from?'"

Lee, who broke into Europe's top 60 last season, was not the only one to pull off a last-gasp escape, of course. His fellow Scot, David Drysdale, trundled in a 30-footer for a birdie on the final hole to secure a share of fourth and hoist himself from 116th to the safety of 103rd on the rankings.

For all the late heroics, there was the usual heartache too. Another Scot, Peter Whiteford, led at halfway as he made a spirited raid on the top-two finish he needed to hold on to this place at the top table but it all petered out with a 75 and a 78 and the dreaded qualifying school beckons.

"There's nobody wishing bad fortune on anybody," said Lee on his rivals in peril on the tee. "Even when they could put a stop to your tour career you still congratulate them on great scores. A lot of us were on the same flight back and it can be a strange one. You have guys who have lost their cards and pondering what to do, and guys like us who are ecstatic. You can't be too over the top with your celebrations, you have to be a bit sympathetic."

It had been a topsy-turvy 2014 for Lee which started with a share of 10th in Abu Dhabi, where he led a stellar field containing Rory McIlroy and Phil Mickelson after 54 holes, and ended with a nail-nibbling scrap to retain his playing rights. It's mission accomplished, though.

"I think there's a wee bit of fine tuning needed and I could be very steady on the tour for a few years," he said as he builds for a winter preparing for his fourth straight campaign on the main circuit.

"I've invested a lot of money on an indoor facility and hopefully this will help sharpen everything up. It's a rented unit in an industrial estate, with a putting green, short game area, simulators and a gym. It's a little golfer's paradise hidden away in Stirling."

After years of chiselling away at the coal face, Lee has found his paradise on the European Tour. The money's not bad either, even if it can disappear pretty quickly.

"Expenses are well over £70,000 and you have management fees, caddie fees and coaches fees," noted Lee, who racked up prize money of almost £190,000 this season. "Take off everbody's cut and it can go . . . but it's still above the average wage.

"Last year was a phenomenal year but my tax bill was kicking the backside off 80 grand. That's more than I'll clear this year. We are taxed at source, whatever country we're in. Australia, for instance, is 37½ per cent tax. That comes off before you even get the cheque.

"Don't get me wrong, it's a great lifestyle. It's never disappointed me and it's everything I imagined it would be . . . plus a little bit more."