It will be a different ball game when Craig Lee tees-up for real at The Belfry this week in the Betfred British Masters.
“Funnily enough, I have The Belfry on my simulator in the studio,” he said with a smile. “The only problem is that the trees don’t get any taller on the simulator. I can still hit it over them on that.”
Lee returns to the cut-and-thrust of the DP World Tour as the Stirling man enjoys the first of a series of potentially lucrative opportunities he earned after winning The PGA Play-offs.
The invitations, which also include tee-times for the ISPS Handa World Invitational, the Horizon Irish Open and the BMW PGA Championship, will see the 46-year-old contest events worth a combined $20 million.
Lee is no stranger to the rigours of the main tour, of course. He had five seasons at the top table, and was beaten in a play-off for the European Masters title by Thomas Bjorn a decade ago, before calling time on that particular chapter of his career in 2017. The competitive thirst is hard to slake, though.
“I’ve tried my hand at all sorts of things since coming off tour but nothing comes close to the adrenaline and the emotional roller coaster that you get with playing competitive golf,” said Lee, who was last year’s Tartan Tour No 1. “It is like a drug. I’ve always been keen to learn and try things and golf never stops giving you that. No matter how good you get, or how long you play for, there’s always something to improve on. You get addicted. I thought my outings on the tour were over and I wasn’t going to chase it. But now, the cage has been rattled again."
For the last couple of years, Lee has been travelling around Scotland in his modified camper van and taking his PGA expertise in coaching, club repairs and custom fitting to various remote outposts as part of his Pros on the Road venture. The end of the road is nigh, though.
“I had to sacrifice something and unfortunately it’s going to be that,” he said of a valued service which would see him make regular treks to Skye, Wick and the Isle of Seil to help the natives with their golfing needs. “It is a bit sad. I put a lot of work into it and it’s proved to be a working business model. But I’ve pulled that selfish string again. I’m going back on the road for myself. I wanted to play a bit more this season and I can’t give up the opportunity to play four massive tour events. I want to do them justice, so I need time to prepare for them properly.”
Despite the various niggles, twinges, aches and pains that are par for the course when you’ve spent a lifetime thwacking a dimpled ball, Lee is intrigued to see how his body, and his game, stand up to the robust examination of the main tour again.
“My game is great shape so it’s not a technical battle, it’s more of a physical one,” he added. “I’m keen to put it all to the test against some of the best players on tour. Maybe I’m being delusional and it’s just the shorter more generous courses I play more regularly in Scotland are making me look good. We’ll see.”
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