David Drysdale

Started playing golf at the age of 12 and, at 17, experienced playing in The 1992 Open Championship at Muirfield where he acted as a marker for, firstly, Roger Chapman and then John Daly over the final two rounds. Has become something of an expert in dramatic end of season finales, starting in 2003, when he narrowly missed out on retaining his European Tour card. Twelve months later, he secured a last-minute return at the Challenge Tour Grand Final, winning a sudden-death play-off against Mattias Eliasson to finish 12th on the Rankings. Then followed two years where he finished, agonisingly, one place outside of those who kept their playing privileges by right. Missed out by Euro586 in 2005 and Euro1,139 in 2006. Incredibly, also missed out by a shot at the 2005 Qualifying School Final Stage, but put that right in 2006 when he took third place at San Roque. Won back his card once again at the Qualifying School in 2007 after an injury ravaged season and yet again in 2008.
Prior to 2009, Drysdale's best finish on the European Tour had been as runner-up at the 2006 Russian Open. In March 2009, he equalled that when he finished 2nd in the Open de Andalucia. That result in Spain followed a 3rd place in the Joburg Open earlier in the season, allowed Drysdale to qualify for the season ending Dubai World Championship. He finished the season inside the top 50 on the Race to Dubai, to comfortably retain his card for the 2010 season. In the years after still struggled to keep his European Tour card.
2011 Notes: Played in 35 European Tour events making the cut in 22 of them with 2, top-tens. Best finish T-8th at the Alfred Dunhill Championship and T-5th at the Czech Open. Was 104th in the Race to Dubai with euro292,750.
2012 Notes: Played in 27 European Tour events making the cut in 20. Drysdale's best finishes were a 3rd place in the Joburg Open, 7th at the Irish Open, and 10th at the BMW PGA Championship. He was well inside the top 60 of the European Tour Race to Dubai finishing 58th with earnings of euro496,672.
2013 Notes: Played in 31 European Tour events making the cut in 22. Drysdale finish 6th at the Avantha Masters, and 10th at the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles. His final position on the Race to Dubai of 80th was more than good enough to retain his playing rights for the 2014 season.
2014 Notes: Played in 32 European Tour events making 19 cuts. A back injury at the start of the season caused Drysdale to pull out of the Nelson Mandela Championship. He finished 8th at The Championship at Laguna National in May, his first top-10 of the season. At the ISPS Handa Perth International in October, he had to finish in the top 7 to retain his European Tour card for 2015. On the last putt on the 18th green, Drysdale holed a 30-foot putt to finish 4th place and secure his card for the following season finishing 102nd in the Race to Dubai with euro251,816.
2015 Notes: Played in 32 European Tour events making 19 cuts. Has become accustomed to leaving it late in the season to come up with the goods, and 2015 was no different. A top ten at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship ? despite struggling with a calf muscle tear ? lifted him into the safety zone, and subsequent top 20 finishes in Portugal and Hong Kong earned him a spot in the Turkish Airlines Open, the first event of the Final Series. Finished T-41st in Turkey and 86th in the Race to Dubai standings with euro351,745 in earnings.
2016 Notes: Played in 29 European Tour events and made the cut in 19. For the first time since 2007 didn't have a top-ten finish, his best was T-12th at the Omega European Masters. Did finish 79th in the Race to Dubai with euro24,789 in earnings. 2016 was a big year as he went over the 400 mark (410 to be exact without a victory, he is catching up to Ross Drummond who at 486 has the most starts without a victory.
2017 Notes: Has had a pair of top-tens, T-7th at the BMW SA Open and T-4th at the Irish Open which got him a spot into the Open Championship for a second time (T-60th in 2009).