Never say never. When Craig Lee called time on his escapades on the European Tour in 2017, it seemed that would be that. The Stirling man had various irons in the fire and appeared content to step down and use his golfing experience and expertise to chart a new career path.
Coaching, custom-fitting, club repairs? You name it, Lee has been doing it. His burgeoning Pros on the Road business, which has him travelling to all manner of remote outposts to provide a professional service to rural Scottish clubs, gives him a great sense of job satisfaction.
The problem, of course, is that nothing stirs the spirits and rouses the senses quite like the competitive cut-and-thrust you get on the tour. So, at the age of 45, and with the kind of bold sense of adventure that Ranulph Fiennes would adopt when he gazed at a map of Antarctica, Lee has entered the tour’s qualifying school and will begin his campaign in stage one of the gruelling process in Denmark this week.
Rather like a seductive siren warbling on an outcrop, the q-school offers drooling temptation but, for the majority, the ambitions are left perished on the rocks. The financial outlay, meanwhile, can be as eye-watering as Liz Truss’ borrowing binge.
“If I got through all three stages, you’re looking at £7,500,” said Lee, who remains undaunted.
“I think the lure of what might happen drives you on,” he said of the possibility of fast-tracking himself back to the top table. “It’s the carrot on the stick that loads of golfers keep chasing.
“I’ve tried a few things since coming off the tour but nothing really fulfils you quite like getting out there and competing. It’s the graft and the never-ending quest for improvement that I loved. It is like a drug. It’s hard to get out of your system. I thought it was out of my system but obviously it’s not yet. It’s a hard thing to give up.”
While his various business ventures have been keeping him busy, Lee has kept those competitive instincts sharp on the domestic Tartan Tour. He won the Scottish circuit’s Order of Merit this season and a morale-boosting improvement in his putting has given him renewed vigour ahead of the q-school examination.
“The putting was what inspired me to give the q-school another go,” added Lee, who was pipped to a maiden tour title by Thomas Bjorn in a play-off at the 2013 Omega European Masters. “It was never one of the strongest parts of my game but now it has become the strongest. It’s like night and day. When you start rolling in putts, the game becomes much easier and it gives you hope again. I’m now curious to find out if that will be enough to make up for the distance that I’ve lost.
“There were a few people quite shocked when I told them I was giving q-school another go. Then again, I’ve done enough strange things in my career so most folk are accustomed to it. They’re probably thinking, ‘there he goes with another brainwave’.
“But I’m not one for sitting in the house wondering about this and that. I’d prefer to get out there, give it a go and then go back to the house and say, ‘oh well, I shouldn’t have done that’. Yes, it may be a bit silly at my age trying to get back on tour against all these young guys but I have to give it a go. Not many sports allow you the chance of a comeback at 45 after retiring.”
In 2007, Lee valiantly came through a four-round first stage, a four-round second stage and a six-round final to secure a place on the main European circuit. A local scrap merchant had given him the entry fee to pursue the dream and Lee completed a fairytale that was a golfing Cinderella story combined with a bit of Steptoe & Son.
“The biggest hurdle this time will be my body,” said Lee of the various ravages that have been inflicted on him in a career spent thwacking balls for a living. “There’s a big difference between a 30-year-old body and one that’s 45. At the same time, I have plenty of experience and hopefully I can draw on all my other attributes and pull something out of the bag.”
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