Why Scottish duo won't be teeing up in DP World Tour Q-School final in Spain

“Is that you done for the season or will we see you at the Final Stage of the Qualifying School” was the last piece of chat for the year on the second-tier circuit and the answer from Scottish duo Daniel Young and Euan Walker was the same one as they both told her it was a ‘no’ as far as the Qualifying School was concerned.

In Walker’s case, it is no surprise as the Ayrshireman had decided that he’d had enough for the year after coming up just short in his bid to secure a step up to the DP World Tour the previous two seasons after the final putt had been holed at the end of the season in the Rolex Challenge Tour Grand Final supported by The R&A.

The 28-year-old still doesn’t fancy the Qualifying School card as a Plan B, especially with the top 20 and ties as opposed to top 25 ties securing a category on this occasion at Infinitum Golf in Tarragona, and Young isn’t heading there either despite making the cut in the six-round marathon last year.

“I am taking a little bit of a leaf out of Euan’s book,” said the 33-year-old Perth man at the end of his first Grand Final appearance at Club de Golf Alcanada in Port d’Alcudia in the north of Mallorca. “I made the decision in April/May time, saying if I made it to Mallorca I wouldn’t be going to Q School.

“It’s a combination of things and especially after a tiring week like this one. It is probably my 26th or 27th event of the year and it’s been a lot of golf. I’ve not missed many cuts, so you are playing a lot of rounds of golf as well.

“There’s only 20 spots this year at the Q-School as well and I thought the category I am going to get through being in the top 45 is going to earn me some starts out there. I looked at the top 25 last year and you really have to be in the top five or top ten to get enough events to make any headway, so that was part of my thinking.

“I’m heading off on holiday and I then might get into Australia (where the new DP World Tour season starts at the end of the month) and maybe one in South Africa before Christmas. We’ll wait and see because you never know in this game what might happen if you play well.”

As for Walker, the Swiss Challenge winner is heading home to Ayrshire to regroup once again after openly admitting why he is not interested in the Qualifying School option.

“If it cost less, I might do it,” he said of the entry fee at any of the three stages being £2,750. "Also, you are not really playing for anything, so what’s the point?

“The fact it’s just 20 cards on offer this time means I’ll be ten spots higher up anyway next year as the chances are there will be ten fewer players in that category. Basically, if you go to the Q-School, you are playing for the top five and they have a re-rank early in the season so, if you don’t have a good start, then you just get re-ranked out anyway. It’s a bit of a money-spinner for the tour and I don’t feel I am in a position to take advantage of that.

“If I was a really top ball-striker, I might do it, but I feel my strength lies in being consistent over the course of a season and the Q-School category just doesn’t reward that at all. It really rewards players that can show up on any given week and have a really big result.

“Obviously I believe I can do that, but I think my strength is being consistent across the season. I think for me a Q-School category would be the waste of a year.”

Walker finished 25th in this season’s Road to Mallorca rankings - he was 24th in 2022 then 26th last year - while Young’s 32nd was easily his best effort in four campaigns on the second-tier circuit.

“I’ve progressed in the majority of the years in my career and I think this year is a big progression,” said Young. “The goal was to get off and, though I have not achieved that, I will certainly look at the positives. 

“I think I only missed two cuts all year and from that perspective, I think it has been a really consistent year. Just needed one or two bigger weeks, turning a 10th or 12th into a fifth or sixth would have made the difference.

“I have worked with Sandy Smith at Ladybank for the last ten or 11 years. We keep things simple and he knows my game inside out. I’ve got very good at self-medicating when it comes to my golf swing over the last couple of years. Just maturing and being out here by yourself, you have to otherwise you will sink or swim.

“Between us, we know what ticks for me and it is very simple stuff. He’s been out a couple of events this year, but if we keep seeing improvements, it is just a case of tinkering little things to try and find that one per cent here and there to try and get to that next level.”

Walker might be starting to feel he is banging his head against a brick wall in his bid to make that step up but, within minutes of signing for his last scorecard of the year, he was already reeling off why he can still feel positive about his campaign.

“For the first time ever, my accumulative season score is better than minus 100,” he pointed out. “My season stroke average is going to be under 70 and my strokes gained putting is going to be better than 1.0 per round. So three really significant things to take from this season.”