Soldiers' plight gives Ramsay a sense of perspective in Tour survival fight

Published on Tuesday 29 September 2009 23:37

RICHIE Ramsay may be struggling for survival on the European Tour but, as the Aberdonian prepares to tee up in this week's £3million Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, he admits his perspective on his chosen profession has changed since he watched a recent television programme about soldiers who were wounded in Afghanistan.

The former US Amateur champion revealed that the BBC documentary series Wounded had made him realise how lucky he was to be a professional sportsman and, over the next few weeks, will keep reminding himself that there are far worse things happening around the world as he bids to secure his playing rights for next season.

Ramsay, a rookie on the European Tour this season, is currently 141st on the Race to Dubai Order of Merit and needs to climb into the top 115 to avoid a visit to the dreaded Qualifying School in a few weeks' time.

"If you'd given me this position at the start of the year, I would have thought I would be worried by that going into the last four or five tournaments, but the programme I watched a few weeks ago makes you realise that golf is not the be all and end all," said the 26-year-old at St Andrews yesterday. "We are out here playing golf when there's a lot worse things happening in the world.

"The programme was about people who had been out fighting in Afghanistan and their rehabilitation from injury. It showed you that going out and playing golf and shooting a bad score is not an issue. You realise how lucky you are to be out there playing and it's not the end of the world.

"We are playing for a living and there's a lot of people who do a lot more dangerous or worthwhile jobs who go unmentioned. It is just because we are in the public eye. My brother is a doctor, for example, and he does more good than I do hacking it around."

While Ramsay certainly doesn't hack it around very often, there have perhaps been times in his young career when he has got a bit carried away, notably when he earned a rebuke from Padraig Harrington when the pair played together in the 2007 Open Championship at Carnoustie. "He's got all the talent in the world, but needs to calm down and stop being so hard on himself," commented the Irishman at the time.

Two years on, Ramsay says he still shows passion on the golf course and always will. But, at the same time, he believes Harrington, who is making his return to the European Tour this week after being over in America recently for the FedEx Cup, would certainly see a difference in him.

"I've not lost any of my fire as I think that is one of my strengths," he added. "I still have that desire to do well, but I channel it better now. I know people have their opinion of me, but there's only a few people who actually know me. I certainly wouldn't comment on other people if I didn't know them. I just do the best I can and I have learned to channel the disappointment better."

Meanwhile, Alastair Forsyth, another of the Scots playing in this week's event at St Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns, has turned to Pete Cowen, the English coach who works with the likes of Henrik Stenson, Lee Westwood and Darren Clarke among others, in a bid to end his season with a flourish.

Forsyth, who teamed up with David Drysdale in Estonia last week to earn Scotland a place in the World Cup in China later in the year, started working with Cowen at the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles and believes the decision is already paying dividends.

"I had been working with Ian Rae and had a good spell between March and May, but, that aside, my game never seemed to be getting any better, so I felt I needed to do something better," said Forsyth, who provided Scotland's last success on the European Tour when winning the Madeira Island Open 18 months ago.

"I spoke to Pete around Gleneagles time and then I saw him in Cologne at the Mercedes-Benz Championship and again this week. I've had a tough time since June, but last week I felt a lot better. The good feelings were back as David and I shot a 66 in the last round of the World Cup.

"It was exciting to be out there fighting for something rather than trying to make a cut or teeing off at 7:20 on a Sunday morning with nothing to play for. I enjoyed the challenge and feeling an adrenaline rush again."