Seventy-two holes in Lima will determine Harrison Endycott’s summer schedule in Australia as the Sydneysider targets a ticket to the Web .com Tour in 2019.
Endycott and Ryan Ruffels are the only Australian players teeing it up in the Diners Club Peru Open on the PGA Tour Latinoamerica this week, but with Ruffels injured for much of the year Endycott has been predominantly flying solo.
Four successive top-10 finishes has the 22-year-old sitting 14th on the Order of Merit and with some significant ramifications looming based on his result in Lima.
A top-three finish would likely elevate him into the top 10 on the moneylist and earn direct passage to the Final Stage of Web .com Tour Qualifying School in Arizona from December 6. But if he fails to move up the four spots he needs, he will head to Second Stage Q-School at Bear Creek Golf Club in California from October 30 and then return for the New South Wales Open at Twin Creeks Golf & Country Club.
It’s the annual struggle of young players looking to make their way in the golf world and one Endycott is surprised to be faced with so early in his career.
“It is a challenging situation I’m in and not one I expected to have my first year,” Endycott said. “Right now I won’t really know what I’m doing for the rest of the year until after Peru.
“If I can play my way into Final Stage, that automatically gives me conditional status and then I’m playing for how many starts I get. If I haven’t exempted myself into Final Stage, I’ve got Second Stage at Bear Creek and then I’ll fly back and play the NSW Open and then the Aussie Open.
“First year out, I’d really love to be playing Final Stage of Web .com at the end of the year but it’s definitely not going to come easy.”
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There are three more events on the Latinoamerica schedule after this week’s Peru Open and Endycott could yet still have additional starts in South America.
The top five on the Order of Merit earn Web .com Tour cards for next year, so a big result this week could result in even more juggling of Endycott’s schedule to end 2018.
“I’m scheduled to play the Aussie summer but there’s still a question mark,” Endycott admitted. “If I can lock up a Web .com card by finishing in the top five then I may have to play a couple more events, but I really want to play the Aussie summer too because there’s good opportunities for Web .com Q-School for next year and European Tour options due to how I’m sitting on the [PGA Tour of Australasia] Order of Merit.
“I’m doing the best I can to play the NSW Open especially. The NSW Open gave me my first start as a pro and the way I look at it, if I’m lucky enough to win Majors and get on the big stage, I wouldn’t have got there if the NSW Open didn’t give me that.
“I always try to fit that event into my schedule from a respect point of view and I love coming home and playing, but you also have to look at the bigger picture. If I have to miss a tournament so I can secure 24 starts the following year, then that’s a sacrifice I’ll have to make.”
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