Qualifier who overcame cancer to join the elite
IN A week when one Englishman counted himself out of the Ryder Cup next year for reasons that defy all understanding (see below), the story of another, Matthew Southgate, is reassuringly heartwarming.
While Paul Casey was making his decision that left an entire sport bewildered, back in the real world 27-year- old Southgate from Essex was celebrating earning his tour card f or next season at t he qualifying school in Spain.
You could say it has been quite a tough year for the Southgate clan. While his two-year-old niece Hattie has been shuttling back and forth to Great Ormond Street hospital where she has been receiving treatment for leukaemia, Southgate returned home from a Challenge Tour event in Germany in July to some test results that showed he had been diagnosed with testicular cancer. He had an operation a week later.
It was September before he was able to play again, just in time to begin a stirring journey through no fewer than three Q-school stages — claiming the sixth card on offer last week that should result in him receiving plenty of starts on the regular tour.
‘It means the world to finish such a difficult year for my family to be going home with a tour card,’ he said.
‘Just to be back playing again is fantastic. I think a lot of golfers would understand, that your health and your family and all those important things in your life are just like the game itself in many ways.
‘Things don’t always go your way all the time, and that sometimes you do have to chip out sideways. That’s really where I feel like I’m at with my little life — I feel like I’ve had to hack out sideways and start again. I’ve managed to get back on track and I feel incredibly lucky for that.’
Southgate played the tour fulltime in 2013 without ever coming close to keeping his card. He has only ever had one top-10 finish on the regular circuit in five years as a pro. But there were distinct signs in Spain last week that what he has been through, and the perspective gained, will have only a therapeutic effect on his play.
To borrow from his own metaphor, let’s hope for birdies on and off the course for him next season.