WHETHER they are up to Tiger Woods’ standards or weekend hackers, all golfers will have sympathy with the plight of Thorpe Hall tournament pro Richard McEvoy.

For McEvoy, 29, missed out by just one shot in his bid to regain his place among the sport’s superstars on the multi-million pound full European Tour.

A bogey five at the penultimate hole of his last round in the 108-hole qualifying school final tournament meant that Shoebury man McEvoy finished five under par and joint 33rd.

But with tour cards for next season going only to the top 30 plus ties – and with four golfers level at six under in joint 29th spot – McEvoy was destined to miss out.

He will now return to the secondary European Challenge Tour, where he was again fated to miss out this year.

He finished 31st on their merit list, but with playing cards moving up to the full tour going only to the leading 20, he narrowly missed out here as well.

McEvoy, of course, was part of the historic Great Britain team that captured Walker Cup success back in 2001.

But since turning professional he’s yo-yo’d between the full tour and the Challenge set-up which obviously has nowhere near the prestige or prize money offered by the main schedule.

At the qualifying school final in Girona, Spain, McEvoy’s total of 425 was completed by a final round of one under par 71.

At the PGA Golf de Catalunya complex he’d previously shot 71, 67, 75, 69 and 72.

By failing with that bogey five, McEvoy not only misses out on playing among the big names such as Sergio Garcia, Ernie Els and Padraig Harrington next season with all the rewards that would bring.

It also rules him out of the hugely lucrative Race to Dubai currently being enjoyed by the game’s top names.