Someone just said to you right i'm gonna back here yep i'm gonna write you a check what do you want me to what's gonna cover you. For this year that you feel comfortable challenge tour full year 50 000 and at this point again going back to like the funding how are you funding all this like when you turn pro did you get a load of endorsement deals did you expect to get like massive you know suddenly ping is signing you up. And you're getting a clothing brand deal you're getting orange and pink pants from jay lindenburg like what what was the financial side of it at that point um management company at the time gave me a credit card. And said this is going to help like fund you until you can pay pay back basically right. So you have to book your flights accommodation management company tended to take care of that but flights accommodations but all of a sudden from playing amateur stuff and i'm spending 300 400 pounds a week it now goes to professional world and i'm spending two thousand three thousand pound a week wow because of what was the biggest cost is it travel travel accommodation caddy accommodation i mean people don't like really think about things like this. But you're paying a caddy eight nine hundred thousand pound a week sometimes and they tend to not add that to the to the uh the subtotal cards because because that well that's it you've got um like coach you're still paying on like a like adrian you still per lesson basically her lesson because i know some coaches going more like a retainer don't they at that level um you know things like accommodation. And travel and things like are they just again you've just got a the management bucket. But you're paying for it basically through this credit card yeah yeah. So it's it's going on i never never credit card until i can pay it back. And were you ever worried about this point are you thinking i'm spending a lot of money here this feels more pressure now because i've just spent two grand to play in this event yeah. And now you're looking at the leaderboard and going well i've got to finish top 10. yeah well i remember like the pressures of turnpro went to obviously first stage second stage final stage of qualifying. And before you know it i owed amounts on this credit card because i'm not winning any money at these events but the expenses are through the roof. And then.
I think it was india my first event on challenge tour. And i think i finished 14th in india. But all the time i was looking at how much i owed on the credit card. And where i had to finish to pay this credit card off because it was the first time i've experienced money like it really. And is this normal like. Or other when you're talking to all the pros out on tour are they are they in similar similar kind of positions yeah some are fortunate enough to have like a backup money. But at the time i didn't and it certainly does eat away at you like it's always it was always on the back of my mind like how much do i owe where do i need to finish oh no i've missed another cut. And you think that hampered your performance a little bit definitely um it's hard not to let it eat away at you at times. But i never had that comfort blanket of like thirty thousand forty thousand pounds behind me just to say i was just gonna play what would have been like in your first year if somebody said to me if someone said to you right i'm gonna back you yep i'm gonna write you a check what do you want me to what's gonna cover you. For this year that you feel comfortable challenge tour full year 50 000 wow so i could write you a check for 50 grand yep i might never see that money again because you're not you might not make 50 grand because again even if you made 50 grand it's gonna come straight back to me yeah you'd think. Or you know some sort of agreement there yeah you'd have to be making a hundred grand. So you get 50. i get 50. i've made my money back don't forget the tax well the taxes see that's just the thing though like say if that was the case you were 100 000 pounds i mean you probably won't keep your card i don't imagine with that would you challenge all you are doing well yeah. So you do. But then.
By the time you've paid your sponsor back and you said you've paid your tax man it's still not going to be a bad salary at all. But it's not quite as glamorous people will think when they see you getting out of spain go. And play golf and that's your career yeah earn that in an office if you get what i mean it's not as glamorous not possible as it sounds as it the expenses are. So high in golf like being a professional golfer that people don't often see that like they'll they'll see on the european tour website or you've you've earned 20 grand this week but yeah it's when you've paid local tax. And then.
You've paid all your expenses as well you've given him a percentage it really doesn't work out and you have to pay local tax plus then.
Tax when you get back home on you on your earnings as well with holding tax yeah wow yeah. And then.
Other things like did also a lot of these decisions then.
Decide where you where you stayed like you have to level down on your accommodation because you can't be spending a load of money on accommodation did you have to stay in some dives definitely some weeks i wouldn't say dives. But didn't stay in the official hotels every week official hotels were generally the like costliest way to do it. But you'd stay two miles down the road for maybe half the price or you could get a house with eight of you in and it would be much much cheaper doing it that way so it definitely did that especially when i started to see credit card bills racking up anything.
