‘Faking an injury crossed my mind’: The scorecard that proves you should never give up on a round

19th hole

Oct 12, 2020

Rory Smith was down and out after just a handful of holes in the first stage of EuroPro Tour Q School. Then something incredible happened

It’s that time of week again where our attention is drawn to an incredible scorecard from somewhere in the golf world. This latest effort comes from the developmental EuroPro Tour.

Thanks for the brilliant Monday Qualifier Twitter account for bringing this to our attention.

During the first stage of EuroPro Tour Q School, Dalmahoy’s Rory Smith was 9-over through six at the Players Club in Bristol, a run that included one par, four bogeys, and a quintuple-bogey 10 at the par-5 5th. Most people would think about going home at that point.

“Faking an injury did cross my mind,” he jokes. “But I’ve always kind of grown up with a don’t quit attitude.

“There was still 31 holes left to play and in golf anything can happen.”

But instead of slinging his clubs in his car and racing up the M5, Smith had a word with himself and knuckled down. An eagle two at the 8th helped.

“I was just off the fairway, with 150 to the flag into a slight right to left wind,” Smith explains. “So I just let an 8-iron drift with the wind.

“I had no clue it had gone on until I got to the green and saw the pitch mark behind the hole. I jokingly walked off the green saying, ‘I hate this game’ with a smile on my face.

“But it changed my mindset pretty quickly.”

Smith played the final 30 holes in 4-under-par – better than anyone else in the field – and qualify for this week’s final stage held at Studley Wood and The Oxfordshire.

@PGAEuroProTour this is why you never give up 💪🏼 surprised myself by making it through pic.twitter.com/WIfp5sjvFo
— Rory Smith (@RorySmithGolf) October 7, 2020

“I’m quietly confident,” he adds. “There are a lot of great golfers in the field so I’ll need to play well.

“I played the Oxfordshire this morning and that’s probably going be the tougher of the two courses. Studley Wood seems to give you more opportunities to score from what I’ve heard from other guys.”

If you want to follow the progress of the EuroPro Q School, that’s over on their website, with highlights on Sky Sports.

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Alex Perry

Alex has been the editor of National Club Golfer since 2017. A Devonian who enjoys wittering on about his south west roots, Alex moved north to join NCG after more than a decade in London, the last five of which were with ESPN. Away from golf, Alex follows Torquay United and spends too much time playing his PlayStation or his guitar and not enough time practising his short game.