“The game has taken its toll”: Tour star takes break from golf after walking out of a tournament mid round

Two-time DP World Tour winner Eddie Pepperell is taking a break from golf after speaking candidly about his struggles.

Eddie Pepperell opens up after walking out of last week’s DP World Tour event in the middle of his round.

Eddie Pepperell has revealed he’ll take a break from golf, admitting he’s felt unhappy on the golf course for a long time following his mid-round withdrawal at Regnum Carya in the DP World Tour’s Turkish Open last week.

Pepperell dunked two balls into the water on the par-3 6^th hole during the second round on his way to a quadruple bogey seven before handing his scorecard to his playing partners on the next tee and heading home. He was nine-over par through 24 holes at the time after opening with a three-over 74.

“I struggled with my game and my head was not in a great spot. I reached the end of my tether and just gave my playing partners the card and said ‘Sorry fellas, that’s me, over and out’. That’s been coming,” the popular pro said on The Chipping Forecast, the weekly golf podcast he co-hosts alongside Andrew Cotter and Iain Carter.

“I’m kind of surprised in myself that I haven’t walked off (before now) – that’s the first time I’ve walked off a course in a good few years. In fact, Turkey was probably the last time in 2019 after throwing balls and hitting balls into a lake. It’s not really my happy place – I’m not sure I’ll ever go back there again.”

Having lost his card in 2024, the two-time DP World Tour winner has limited opportunities on the main circuit this year. Instead, he is plying his trade on the Hotel Planner Tour, formerly known as the Challenge Tour, as he bids to regain his playing privileges for 2026.

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Relying on exemptions and sponsors’ invites for DP World Tour spots, he’s made just four appearances so far but made a fast start to the season, leading at the Afrasia Bank Mauritius Open heading into the final round late last year before finishing T9. Since then, he’s managed two top 10s on the Hotel Planner Tour but has four missed cuts from five other events, including three in a row before his withdrawal in Turkey.

Ironically, Pepperell said he really liked the course and heaped praise on the tournament but is stepping away from the game to take stock.

“Everything about it was perfect apart from my game,” he said. “I’m just really struggling to hit my irons well and I’m making the most outrageously stupid and sloppy bogeys at bad times. It built and built, and I had to call it a day, which isn’t something I’m proud of or do very often, but I need a little break and I think I’ll be taking one.”

The Englishman, who lifted his first tour title seven years ago at the Qatar Masters, was a mainstay in the Official World Golf Rankings top 100 from 2018 to 2020 but has slipped to 483rd, 451 places lower than his career best position.

“It’s impossible to know exactly where the fault lies with poor form across time. The even harder thing with that course (Regnum Carya) is that I remember being there eight years ago when my iron play was, frankly, world-class. I have some swings on my phone from that tournament that I quite often go back to for inspiration and my swing was just in such a different place. It’s frustrating.”

Pepperell did heap praise on fellow Englishman Chris Wood, another player who has been struggling with his game amid mental health issues. The former Ryder Cup player broke down in tears after shooting a closing 64 (seven-under) to record his first top 10 since 2018.

“I had lunch with Chris and Oli Wilson on Thursday after my round. We’ve been three pretty beaten-up souls by the game, but it was great to see Chris do what he did,” Pepperell said. “I know when I played with him in Qatar, I spoke quite positively about his game, there were some green shoots of form there, so it’s great to see him finally get that top 10.”

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Pepperell heaped praise on Wood’s work ethic and drive, but has questioned whether he can find the same determination to recapture his old form.

The 34-year-old’s bid to retain his DP World Tour card at the end of the 2024 season saw him playing and travelling far more than planned and he believes he’s now paying the price for that exertion.

“The fire that used to burn in me is an ember at best and I’m trying to blow on it gently to try and get it back to life and find the wisdom that can enable that,” he revealed.

“I feel very differently to 10 years ago and 20 years ago about golf generally so that’s the challenge for me. I’m not adverse to taking it on but it has taken its toll, and the last nine months in particular is what I’m feeling – the burnout towards the end of the big heavy spell I put in towards the end of last year.”

Pepperell believes golf is the toughest of them all and is targeting finding happiness within the game before he can rise back up the rankings.

“I just want to play better golf. I don’t care if it’s the local medal – you need a scorecard in your hand, obviously, as there’s always something on it, but providing that’s in place, if I can play better, I’ll be happier in myself. That’s been the most difficult thing, just how unhappy I’ve felt on the golf course for quite an extended period.”

Battling frustration with himself on the golf course is something the former British Masters winner has spoken about in depth, having previously admitted stabbing himself with a pencil and hitting himself in annoyance while on the course.

“That’s where I’ve been,” he said. “Rather than doing that again last week, I just walked off the course and I’m burnt out. It happens to most sportspeople in their career.”

In a bid to recuperate, he’ll head on a road trip to the Isle of Skye with wife Jennifer, before considering teeing it up again in Andalucia on the Hotel Planner Tour in a few weeks.

“I won’t play much in the next six weeks because I can tell that I need a week or two completely away from the game and then reevaluate. I know it’s not a million miles away but it’s felt that way for a long time,” he said.

“There’s constant hope – when I’m at home practising or away at tournaments there’s so much hope and then you compete and your skillset isn’t where you want it to be, where you remember it being, where it needs to be, frankly, and it quickly hits home that you’re not there. It’s demoralising.”

It’s been almost five years since Pepperell’s last major appearance – a missed cut at the 2020 US Open at Winged Foot – and he had hoped to make his return to the biggest stage at that event again next month, but has now withdrawn from next week’s qualifying at Walton Heath.

“That was the first withdrawal (after walking off in Turkey). The thought of being at Oakmont – I’d never have qualified the way I’m playing. 2017, when I qualified for the US Open off the back of losing my card nine months before that, my game went from being terrible at the end of 2016 to brilliant in the middle of 2017 when I did well (T16 at Erin Hills).

“However, there’s an important caveat to make with my iron play. I don’t think I’ve ever been better off the tee than I am right now – I’m in play so much more regularly than I used to be even when I was playing some of my best golf – but it’s the fact I don’t have the control with my irons, short irons in particular around the greens that I need and used to have. The worst part of it all is I don’t know how to fix it. I’m just struggling with the aspect of the game that I think is most tested at the highest level. Mine’s just far short of where it needs to be.”

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Meanwhile, Pepperell, who turned pro in 2011, having grown up playing against the likes of Tommy Fleetwood, Laurie Canter, Andrew ‘Beef Johnston and Tom Lewis, is hoping his experience can help other aspiring players.

“I think there’s a common misnomer in golf that you need to address your weaknesses,” he said. The most important thing you can do if you’re a golfer, and I say this as advice to any amateur or aspiring pro listening, if you are really good at any one thing in your game that is a superpower you really need to maintain, because the chances are that you’re only going to be really good at one aspect of the game. My iron play was always my big thing and I’ve let it slip. My career progression will show – statistically, it will align nicely. 2022 was my last best year and I was the second-best iron player on tour that year. Since then, I’ve really struggled statistically and look at my results. It’s important if you’re really good at one thing to know that and keep on top of that.”

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