Matt Baldwin: I nearly quit golf. Now I’m back on the DP World Tour.

Matt Baldwin has revealed he was close to quitting the professional game just months before sealing a dream return to the DP World Tour.

When the 36-year-old lost his then-European Tour card in 2016, hopes were high he would make an immediate return to the top tier.

However, what started out as a brief hiatus turned into a five-year slog on the Challenge Tour, with the affable Southport native repeatedly frustrated in his quest to get back to where he feels he belongs.

“I room and travel with Jordan Wrisdale and four or five months ago I said to him ‘if this is going to be my final year out here, I want to enjoy what I’m doing so let’s have a good time’,” Baldwin told bunkered.co.uk.

“I never gave up, but I certainly had doubts over whether I could do it. I was still working hard at it but financially at that point it was potentially my last season. It [quitting] wasn’t something I wanted to do. I’d love to keep playing golf forever but where I was at with my life and my financial situation I thought it might be time.”

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Extensive travel for little reward also weighed heavily against Baldwin’s desire to settle down with his girlfriend, Claire.

“Lower level footballers don’t get paid much but they still get paid regardless of how they perform,” Baldwin added. “If you’re a golfer you could go six, nine or 12 months without making a cut. You spend a lot of money to travel and you’re not getting anything back from it.

“Financially, I probably wouldn’t have been able to keep doing it. I’ve met someone I want to be with forever, and it was something that had entered my head and I was thinking about what I would do next.

“It was upsetting at times. It was hard work. But at the same time you could say it let me play more freely. You enjoy what you’re doing because you don’t know how many more chances you’re going to get.”

Play more freely he did. A late-season charge saw Baldwin shoot up the rankings before tying for fourth at the Challenge Tour Grand Final – enough for him to finally seal his long-awaited return to what is now the DP World Tour. Knowing this might be his final stint at Europe’s top table, he wants to make the most of it.

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“I’m 36,” he continued. “I’m not young but I’ve still got ten years of peak golf ahead of me if I keep fit. The drive and all that side of it never left. It was more a case of whether I would be able to do it.

Now I have the opportunity to test myself again at a higher level. The financial rewards for playing better golf are there, and I want to win tournaments so there’s the opportunity for that too. It’s not going to be a new experience but I’m coming in second time round.

“My golf has been pretty strong in terms of consistency. I played a few DP World Tour events during the summer and I had three top-20s out of four. I know I can do it so why not carry on with that and see where I’m at?”