Martin Dempster: Don't give up yet on David Drysdale

He gave it a good shot but it wasn't to be for David Drysdale as he came up just short in his bid to land a maiden European Tour victory at the 451st attempt.

Recent form has given David Drysdale renewed belief in his chance of winning on the European Tour. Picture: Jane Barlow.

After getting tantalisingly close to that elusive breakthrough win at the weekend, the 43-year-old had to settle for third spot in the inaugural Belgian Knockout but that was still a much-needed boost.

Drysdale, normally a consistent performer, had missed six cuts in a row heading into the event in Antwerp and was way down the Race to Dubai rankings but is now up to 116th as some big money starts to be up for grabs.

The Cockburnspath man has held some sort of European Tour status since his first season in 2002 and hasn’t been back to the Qualifying School since 2008.

That really is an admirable achievement on a circuit that has tremendous strength in depth these days and there are probably times when Drysdale shares the sentiment expressed by the recently-retired Anthony Wall about “my body can’t do what my mind still can”.

Drysale makes no secret of the fact that his career will be unfulfilled if he gets to the end of it without tasting success on the European Tour. He will need the golfing gods to be in his corner, but that effort in Belgium will have given him renewed belief that the dream is still alive.