European Tour: Card agony for Storm & Lee

• European Tour cards on the line at Portugal Masters
• English ace Storm misses out by just €100
• Joy for Jamieson, Fisher and Kohonen

The final regular European Tour event of the season brought the usual mixture of agony and ecstasy for golfers at the lower end of the Race To Dubai for whom the Portugal Masters was the last chance of holding on to their European Tour cards.

England’s Graeme Storm will wake this morning feeling the most disappointed, after missing out on retaining his playing privileges by a mere €100. The former French Open champion closed with a 67 to finish on 15-under in Portugal and in a tie for 22nd, coming agonisingly short of keeping his card.

With my family and especially to my little boy whose birthday it is tomorrow. Today won’t spoil that. Never. Family is everything

— Graeme Storm (@stormygraeme) October 23, 2016

Scotland’s Craig Lee will also be heading back to Q-School. A costly bogey at the 72nd hole on Friday saw him miss the cut. With a minimum payday of, as it turned out, € 2,983 for all those who safely advanced to the weekend, Lee would have held on to his card had he completed the tournament.

Eddie Pepperell, of England, looked to have done enough to secure his playing rights for next season when he opened with a 64 on Thursday. However, he stumbled to a mistimed 76 on day two to miss the cut and, with it, cough up his card.

I’ll be ok. pic.twitter.com/5QIq24euyP

— Eddie Pepperell (@PepperellEddie) October 22, 2016

Peter Uihlein, Alvaro Quiros and Eduardo Molinari are others facing uncertain futures following disappointing seasons on the European Tour.

On a more positive note, Scotland’s Scott Jamieson can breathe easy after finding his form at exactly the right time. Top ten finishes at the KLM Open and Italian Open last month helped turn the East Kilbride man’s season around and he consolidated his card with money-making efforts at the Alfred Dunhill Links, British Masters and Portugal Masters.

England’s Chris Hanson and American Daniel Im (you can read more about him in the upcoming edition of bunkered) also preserved their playing rights for another season, whilst Mikko Korhonen dug deep to maintain his pace on the European Tour for next season. Starting five places outside the card spots and needing at least a top 25 finish in Portugal, the Finn had rounds of 64, 67, 64 and 68 to finish in a tie for third, just two shots behind winner Padraig Harrington. The €112,600 he earned vaulted him to 86th on the Race To Dubai.

England’s Oliver Fisher and Jason Scrivener of Australia also did what they needed to do to climb back into the card-keeping spots, having started the week outside them.

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European Tour: Next stop, China

The European Tour now heads to China for the WGC-HSBC Champions tournament this week, where Scotland’s Russell Knox is the defending champion. It then moves on to Turkey the following week for the Turkish Airlines Open, the first of three tournaments that comprise the tour’s season-ending Final Series.

Michael McEwan is the Deputy Editor of bunkered and has been part of the team since 2004. In that time, he has interviewed almost every major figure within the sport, from Jack Nicklaus, to Rory McIlroy, to Donald Trump. The host of the multi award-winning bunkered Podcast and a member of Balfron Golfing Society, Michael is the author of three books and is the 2023 PPA Scotland 'Writer of the Year' and 'Columnist of the Year'. Dislikes white belts, yellow balls and iron headcovers. Likes being drawn out of the media ballot to play Augusta National.

Deputy Editor