Finding JOY

THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC HAS HAD A HUGE IMPACT ON MINI-TOUR PLAYERS LIKE TWO-TIME MENA TOUR WINNER LUKE JOY. HERE, THE ABU DHABI-BASED ENGLISHMAN SHARES HIS LOCKDOWN STRUGGLES AND HOPES FOR AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE

It is safe to say the past three months have been a bit of a learning curve for us all. My last event was on the MENA Tour in Jordan. At the time I was excited about returning back to Abu Dhabi and the prospect of playing events in the UAE before heading to the UK for a full summer schedule. That all ended abruptly when I received an email on March 4, after the final round in Jordan, stating the MENA Tour had decided to postpone the five remaining events until the pandemic had calmed down. Cue the domino effect. Within a week all other tours had followed suit and it left me and fellow professionals in absolute limbo. I still believe it was the correct decision, 100 percent, but that doesn’t change the fact it has left my future up in the air.

The true impact coronavirus will have on the game, the economy, and our day to day lives are still emerging even now. For myself and others working towards the bigger tours, the financial implications are huge. We don’t have the option of being furloughed. We are in a 100 percent commission-based, performance-based business and you still have to cover all expenses for that opportunity to play and earn.

Our way of earning money was cut overnight. When tours don’t pay us the prize money earned, which unfortunately has been the case this time around, it leaves us in a very poor financial situation from which I’m sure some players won’t recover. As we have got further down the road and more information has come to light, the worst news was that of [European Tour] QSchool being canceled this year. To have the opportunity to progress taken away was probably the biggest hit while in quarantine.