Fear of flying can’t stop Fritsch

While Padraig Harrington was winning his first European Tour title since 2008 in the Portugal Masters, Germany’s Florian Fritsch was achieving something equally impressive.

Fritsch could only finish 44th in Vilamoura, but that was enough to ensure he would retain his playing privileges for next season, despite playing in just 12 events.

The 30-year-old’s limited schedule is due to a fear of flying, but three seventh-place finishes in his last six events saw Fritsch end the season 101st on the Race to Dubai, sandwiched between Oliver Fisher and Pelle Edberg, who each played 30 times.

“I used to not mind flying, it was just a normal thing like taking a cab,” Fritsch explained.

“But in 2005 I was flying from Frankfurt to Turin and the plane suddenly started rocking all over the place and my coach turned to me and said ‘If it goes wrong, it will be over with quickly’.

“From that moment I began thinking a lot about flying and it developed from an awareness to an interest, to scepticism, to fear.”

With the European Tour visiting South Africa, Australia, the Middle East, Malaysia, Thailand, India and China in the early part of the season, Fritsch did not make his first start until May in Morocco.

From there his schedule depends upon which events he can reasonably get to by driving.

“To get here to Portugal I left London on Sunday night after the tournament, drove to Portsmouth and got on a ferry at 10.30pm that got into Bilbao in Spain on Tuesday at 7.45am,” he said.

“I then drove for 10 hours to get to Vilamoura.

“It sounds like a lot of driving, but I love it.”

Germany’s Florian Fritsch has kept his Tour ticket despite only playing in 12 events.