“Three years ago I felt I was taken as a clown. Now I'm here for golf ”

Marcus Armitage, aka The Bullet, has come a long way in the past year. He’s now very much on an upward curve after a stuttering start

- Mark Townsend

Twelve months ago, Marcus Armitage was coming off the type of season that might have made you think twice about your future. He and his fiancee Lucy had bought a house, he was heavily in debt – “People warned me about going on credit cards and I didn’t listen and it just got worse” – and, in 18 Challenge Tour starts, he missed eight cuts. His total earnings were short of €15k.

Then he made it through the second stage of Q-School and came through the slog at Lumine with three shots to spare. Having had one go at the European Tour in 2017, this would be another shot at the big time. A week later at the Alfred Dunhill, he went into the final round at Leopard Creek in the third last group but then had to birdie the last two holes for an 83. The chance to make a big dent in his money worries had gone, but his reaction was typical; he went on Twitter, told everyone that he was going to be alright and, within the space of just 57 seconds, he was making headlines around the world for his honesty and humour.

But he was also still skint, and a trip Down Under a few weeks later to the Australian PGA didn’t help things. The first tournament back in 2020 would be the South African Open and Armitage was going to have to give it a miss as he couldn’t afford the trip.