Scott Henry won back his dream but was left nearly in tears by it just a few weeks into his comeback on the European Tour.
The 30-year-old missed the cut at the Tshwane Open in March – his seventh in a row – and was at the end of his tether as he tried to recapture the form that made him one of Scotland’s top prospects for the professional game.
It took another seven missed cuts before he finally broke his duck at the weekend’s BMW International in Germany, where he finished tied for 12th, and now Henry is at Aviemore for this week’s SSE Scottish Hydro Challenge at Macdonald Hotels’ Spey Valley course looking to keep striking while the iron is hot.
Henry is one of 18 Scots in the home Challenge Tour event and is perhaps a microcosm of the problems faced by young Scots pros in recent times – plenty of promise left largely unfulfilled.
“There was a low point this year,” said Henry, who won two Scottish Boys Championships and the senior strokeplay title as an amateur. “Down in South Africa in March I shot four or five under in the first round.
“That was still quite early on in the season, but I shot four or five over second round and missed the cut by a shot. I just lost my head and honestly, I’m not saying I was crying, but there were definitely tears in my eyes.
“It’s not really been just this season, it has been a long time, really, that I’ve thought ‘what the hell am I doing? How can I have the game I have and all the ability I know I’ve got, and to be underperforming so much?”
This was only a few months after he got his main tour playing rights back at Tour School, but there was still too much “mental scarring” from previous troubles.
“It is torture this game – we all know what it can be like,” he said. “I’ve started working with Alan McCloskey as coach for the last three months now.
“He said if I’d gone to him at 17 or 18, he would just have worked on my basics and let me play because I had a game that nobody else at that age around me really had.
“I guess you get fed too much information at times, and when you’re young and a bit more vulnerable, you soak it up.”
Henry and McCloskey have simplified his game again, and the first result was the weekend’s performance.
“I was 10 shots under in Germany but I felt like I could have been 20 shots under, that’s even more exciting for me than just the result in itself,” he said.
“Since I’ve been with Alan I’ve also been working with Paul McCarthy, a psychologist, and I feel it instantly has an impact on my game.
“I had a few things I had to get out of my system, so to speak, but now I feel like my game is the best it has ever been.
“The game is there, it was just a case of taking it on the course. Although last week’s result isn’t ultimately what I’m aspiring to, it’s definitely a massive step.”
Henry’s previous form means he’s not in the mix for places in the big Rolex Series events in France, Ireland and the Scottish Open, but looking to push on at Aviemore instead.
“I’ve not had a lot of success in this tournament but I know I can play well here,” he said. “It’s all about being in position off the tee and if you can do that you can take it apart.
“It is frustrating though, I would’ve loved to have played (the main tour) these next few weeks,” he continued.
“I have asked for an invitation to the Scottish Open and I’m hoping the last week goes in my favour. To miss three tournaments in a row on the main tour at this stage would really by a smack in the face, especially with one being in Scotland.
“I’m in a bit of a dilemma. Being a touring pro I can play in the Scottish qualifier for Dundonald but I’ve not played a lot of Challenge Tour and if I take next week off to do qualifiers I’m sacrificing a Challenge Tour event.
“I have to make sure I have a job for next year so I can’t afford to miss events.”
The €250,000 event was won four years ago by new US Open champion Brooks Koepka and his younger brother Chase is in the field this week. Another American, Julian Suri, currently leads the Challenge Tour Road to Oman standings.
