Grantown’s Duncan Stewart remains eager for another crack at the European Tour despite opting to play this week’s SSE Scottish Hydro Challenge at Spey Valley.
Stewart narrowly failed to keep his European Tour card last year but has played seven Race to Dubai events this year, and turned down the opportunity to play this week’s BMW International Open in Germany.
Although the 34-year-old is focused on finishing the Challenge Tour season strongly, Stewart feels he has unfinished business among the game’s elite.
Stewart said: “I could have played Germany again this week, but I withdrew from that and decided to play here.
“I’ve got partial status on the European Tour but I’m not going to get that many more starts, I’ve barely got anything on the board.
“If I had 200,000 up on the board right now I would probably have been going to Germany. But my focus is the Challenge Tour and it made sense to come and play it this week.
“The great thing about last year was I felt very comfortable out there, I really enjoyed it. That’s where I really want to be – playing all these big events.
“I felt I didn’t play as well as I know I can last year which is good – if I felt I had played my best and finished 131st there would be no point in being out there.
“I felt like I played C plus, or B minus game which wasn’t bad, but there was always room for improvement. The goal is to get back there and stay for as long as possible.”
Stewart’s best result at the Spey Valley event came in 2013 when he finished sixth, in the same year Brooks Koepka, who won his second successive US Open at Shinnecock Hills on Sunday, triumphed at Aviemore.
Stewart feels he is nearing a return to form, adding: “I’ve been playing well for the last month and a half but nothing has really been happening. I feel like there’s a very good week around the corner and obviously I would hope it would be this week.”
