Scottish golfer opens up on fearing career was finished after being 'pretty badly hurt'
Ryan Lumsden tore a labrum in his hip and damaged his abductor playing in Nexo Championship
Ryan Lumsden is not getting carried away with an eye-catching start to his 2026 campaign after fearing his career could be over at the end of last season.
“Honestly, I didn’t know if I was going to be able to come back and play golf,” revealed the 29-year-old Scot after carding a five-under-par 67 in the opening round of the HotelPlanner Tour’s CIRCA Cape Town Open.
The effort left him sitting just two shots off the pace as a group of seven players, including compatriot Marc Warren, ended the day in a logjam for the lead.
Lumsden was left fearing the worst after injuring himself as he made a DP World Tour appearance on Scottish soil in last year’s Nexo Championship at Trump International Golf Links in Aberdeenshire.
“I tore a labrum in the hip and damaged my abductor as well,” he said. “I had a great week (finishing joint-19th behind Grant Forrest) and, when I got to Finland the week after, I think I was 27th on the Road to Mallorca Rankings, which was a great spot and meant that one good week would get my card.
“But the physio looked at me that week and he was like ‘I don’t think you can play’. I did try to play and it got worse and worse and worse.”
As a result, the London-born player retired after just one round in an event in the Netherlands then withdrew at the same stage in the Hainan Open, of the HotelPlanner Tour’s Play-Off tournaments for the Rolex Grand Final. “I got to the second hole in China and I took a step and my whole back locked up until the next day,” he added. “It was a brutal end to the season. Mentally, it was really tough.”
‘It’s been an interesting few months’
It’s been a huge bonus, therefore, that he has gone from feeling “pretty badly hurt” to making an eagle and four birdies at Royal Cape Town Golf Club to sit handily-placed in the second event of the new season on the DP World Tour’s feeder circuit.
“It was nice - some good stuff,” he admitted. “It’s been an interesting few months for me. I was just doing rehab and recovery for three months. Picked up the clubs again in January and didn’t really know what to make of it. I’ve changed a few things in my game just to be better for my body and hopefully to hit the ball better as well.
“It’s early doors, just the first round back, but it has been nice as I’ve played some good stuff the last couple of weeks out in Dubai. Just fun to be back with a better mental attitude, which I think is the most important thing. Not getting too caught up in the score.
“I wouldn’t say it was a case of not having any expectations. It’s just that the expectations have changed. For me, winning today wasn’t wasting unnecessary mental energy on the bad shots as it’s golf and I knew there were going to be some. Just being grateful that I am able to play golf as we didn’t know this was going to be a thing. Whether I shot 65, 75 or 85 today, it honestly didn’t really matter.”
Based on how he played for most of last season and the progress he’s made since starting out on the HotelPlanner Tour in 2023, Lumsden’s name would be one the list of Scottish players you’d expect to be in the thick of the battle for 15 DP World Tour cards in 2027.
‘I just want to have fun this season’
“Honestly, my goals for this season are to have fun,” he insisted. “You know, I don’t know how much longer I was going to be playing with the injury but now I’m healthy, it’s about having fun and enjoying getting to travel and playing golf for a living. The results will be what the results will be, man. It really doesn’t matter.
“Yeah, the end of last season was really not fun. So coming back is a different perspective. It’s more a feeling of gratitude that I am able to do this instead of thinking I’ve got to make the main tour, got to win golf tournaments. It will be what it will be.”
Warren, who started the new season with a solid performance in last week’s SDC Open, signed for an eagle and five birdies to sit in a group that also includes English trio Tom Lewis, Sam Hutsby and Will Enefer, as well as Irishman Gary Hurley.
Meanwhile, 2022 winner Ewen Ferguson fared best out of an 11-strong Scottish connection with a three-under-par 69 in the opening round of the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters on the DP World Tour.
In-form Patrick Reed - the American won the Hero Dubai Desert Classic a week past Sunday before losing out in a play-off in the Bapco Energies Bahrain Championship last weekend - shares the lead on seven under with Kiwi Daniel Hiller.
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