Southport’s Matt Baldwin may have regained his full DP World tour card, but life on the road is proving as challenging as ever.
The 36-year-old is back after a three-week stint in South Africa where he played his first two events since 2016. He missed cut and T-32 respectively.
The week of the Challenge Tour grand final was a “stressful” one for the Merseyside golfer, as not only did he need a top 20 finish, but he was also competing for the tournament win in Mallorca.
"To get my full status back on the @DPWorldTour is a dream come true."@mattbaldwin26 after the #RolexGrandFinal ❤️ pic.twitter.com/X0Hikt5NmS
— Challenge Tour (@Challenge_Tour) December 4, 2022
Even if the Royal Birkdale member hasn’t played a full season on tour for five years, he still has big ambitions: “Obviously my first target is to keep my card then its’s to go on and win an event,” he said.
“If I could choose any event to win it would be the British Masters or one of the Rolex Series.”
The step up in touring means a step up in competition and courses: “The Challenge Tour is excellent, but seeing the grandstands full of people, the courses being a better standard… it’s just the feeling of playing a ‘proper’ tournament.”
Being on the DP tour comes with bigger crowds, and all events are televised, but Baldwin has been working on handling the pressure. He said: “I do meditation and try to take it one shot at a time. I’m a bit of an anxious golfer so it’s just learning to do deal with that.”
Getting back on a major tour also means more sponsorship money and bigger purses but that doesn’t mean Baldwin will be rejigging the team around him.
He explained: “I’ll still work with Lee Crumbleholme a sports psychologist and my swing coach Alan Thompson; nothing will change there.”
Though this will be the Merseysider’s first full season on the tour in five years he has played 15 events on the main European tour over that time. Some events didn’t get strong enough fields, so the tour then looks at the Challenge tour for players. His biggest moment came in qualifying for the 2019 Open Championship.
For now, Baldwin is going to take a month or two off after a hectic couple of weeks so he can gather his thoughts and push to keep his DP World card in the new year. His next event is likely to come in February at the Ras Al Khaimah in the UAE.
