IT’S been a tough shift but Bradley Neil has certainly earned the right to play on the European Tour.
Two years of chipping away at the coalface has just about left the Blairgowrie youngster covered in a dusting of soot but he reaped the rewards at the weekend when he grabbed the 15th and last promotion place to the main circuit at a nail-nibbling Challenge Tour Grand Final.
Neil was 16th on the rankings going into the all-or-nothing shootout and was 18th on the projected rankings with one round to play.
In one of the biggest mental tests of his fledgling career, though, the 21-year-old coped with the pressure and posted a spirited 69 to finish in a tie for ninth on the leaderboard and haul himself into the card-winning places.
One man delighted with Neil’s sterling efforts was Justin Rose, who is in the same management company as the Scot.
In his first 24 events as a professional, Neil made the cut just four times during a tough transition. Rose could sympathise. He missed his first 21 in a row.
“It’s really easy to come out and make cuts in your first year,” said Rose with a wry grin. “I could feel his pain there.”
From that torrid start, Rose went on the establish himself as one of the world’s golfing powers and the former US Open champion and Olympic gold medal winner insists that Neil’s early struggles will stand him in good stead.
“Listen, it didn’t do me too badly,” said Rose. “Bradley is sticking with it. When I turned pro, I had a three year plan and part of that was to spend a bit of time on the Challenge Tour and earn my stripes there.” And as for Neil’s career-changing final round at the weekend which got him a ticket to tour?
“Absolutely brilliant,” beamed Rose. “That’s a really ballsy round.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here