Wood showed his steel at Q School

by Ross Biddiscombe

Chris Wood’s eight-year ­professional golfing journey from Q School hopeful to BMW PGA Championship winner was almost derailed before it began – and all because of a lost six-iron in southern Spain. The ­missing club drama was witnessed only by a tiny handful of people and seems almost irrelevant now, yet it proved that even back then Chris had all the attributes needed to become a remarkable champion.

The incident happened in 2008 after I had chosen to feature Chris in a book that I was writing about the European Tour Qualifying School because of what I saw a couple of months earlier when, with his father Richard as his caddie, the young amateur from Bristol ­finished tied fifth at the Open at Royal Birkdale. The smiles on their faces and the absolute joy of sharing success in a game they loved led me to seek them out at Q School.

There was another potential young English player who was a candidate for this special chapter in my book, but once I met the ever-polite Chris, I had to dump one player or the other. The dumpee was Danny Willett.

Turning pro after the Open was a ­no-brainer for Chris and he set about trying to gain his Tour card via seven invitations before the end of 2008. Rory McIlroy had done it the year before, but he was a very rare ­exception. Chris ended up at Q School with nearly 900 hopefuls at the School that year, hoping for one of 30 Tour cards that would eventually be handed out after three gruelling ­tournaments and 14 nerve-tingling rounds of golf.

My Q School book is called Cruel School for a reason: Chris and ­thousands of other amateurs-turned-pros over the years have started their careers this way. But it’s a torture ­chamber tournament that sorts the men from the boys and, even though Chris sailed through the First Stage tournament (he won and was almost bored by the slow play), it was at Second Stage in Spain that the ­life-changing drama played out.

I was walking the fairways with Chris’s father Richard at Montenmedio Golf Course just south of Jerez and, as we watched the 20-year-old Wood progress steadily through the first three rounds of Q School’s Second Stage, I learnt how the father ­introduced the son to the game. Richard – himself a multiple club champion at Long Ashton GC near Bristol – bought four-year-old Chris a ­plastic set of clubs, but a few years later thought his son was headed for life as a ­footballer (Bristol City showed an ­interest). However, when Chris was nine, the young lad caught the golf bug and, under the watchful eye of local pro Paul Mitchell, he was a single-figure ­handicapper by the age of 12.

This was all great background material for my chapter, but a better story occurred in the final round at Montenmedio. Only 20 players would progress from this tournament and Chris needed a par 72 to confirm his place in Final Stage. Yet anyone who has visited Q School knows that progress is never simple. Ian Poulter took four visits to get his card.

Richard had given up his role as caddie by now to one of the European Tour’s most experienced bagmen: Gordon Faulkner, originally on Rory’s bag and these days working with Spanish Open champion Andrew ­Johnston. Gordon was perfect for a young pro like Chris – nothing can phase him. That was until the 7th tee of that final round at Q School Second Stage.

Chris was one over par after nine holes and in real danger of finishing outside the top 20. He hit his tee-shot on the 10th perfectly, leaving him a 200-yard shot to the green. A standard six-iron was all that was needed except that Gordon had left that particular club on the 7th tee. Amid the ­incredible tension that ­pervades every Q School, crazy stuff like this always happens. I’ve seen the worst ­meltdowns and many floods of tears. But it was now that Chris showed the kind of inner strength that eight years later would win him his Wentworth title. With his pro career in mortal danger, he ignored the problem and chose to hit a soft five-iron. He got his par, the club was retrieved and he eventually shot a two-under-par 70. On such small ­margins sporting careers sometimes live or die. A week later he blasted through Q School’s Final Stage (along with a certain Mr Willett) and – Tour card in hand – his pro career had begun. So, if anyone wondered how Chris held his nerve at Wentworth, I refer to ‘The Tale of the Lost 6-iron Of Montenmedio 2008’ – Chris Wood was an obvious champion-to-be back then and he’s an actual big-time champion now.

Ross Biddiscombe is the author of ‘Cruel School: The 40 Year History of the ­European Tour Q School’ that chronicles the Q School journey of Chris Wood and is available as a paperback or eBook on www.golfontheedge.co.uk or www.amazon.co.uk

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