BLOOD SWEAT & TEARS

For every Kurt Kitayama there are far more Paul Warings on tour. A few achieve great things from the off, like the young American who not only triumphed in just his third European Tour event in Mauritius but added a second title a mere eight starts later in Oman. Others have to wait years, maybe decades, to make their initial breakthrough.

Names like Carl Mason and Roger Chapman spring to mind, and although Waring hadn’t quite remained winless for as long as that duo before finally claiming his maiden title in last year’s Nordea Masters, when the 2018 season kicked off he had been out there for ten years without managing to get one across the line. This despite a strong amateur pedigree and an impressive pro start in six Challenge Tour outings at the end of 2007.

“I actually lost a play-off