Hartlepool golfer Graeme Storm looking to kick on after dream return to form

GRAEME Storm will not rest on his laurels after his brilliant performance at the Omega European Masters and now hopes to break into the European Tour’s top 60.

Storm finished as runner-up in the Swiss Alps, suffering the heartbreak of a play-off defeat to American David Lipsky.

But his £202,620 cheque elevated him from 159th place to 64th in golf’s order of merit (known as the Race to Dubai) and put him in serious contention to play in the lucrative DP World Tour Championship event.

The Dubai tournament at the end of November has incredible riches on offer – the not-so-small matter of a prize pot totalling £5 million.

Storm told SportMail it was a “dream come true” to go from a desperate fight to break into Europe’s top 110 to stay on the Tour in 2015 to be in with a shot at the end-of-season World Tour Championship.

“What happened at the weekend are what dreams are made of,” said the Hartlepool golfer.

“It came out of the blue.

“This year has been really terrible, but I’ve turned things around in one week.

“It just shows you how fickle golf can be.

“I had been getting e-mails from the European Tour about the Tour Qualifying School at the end of the season.

“The way it had been going it was looking like I’d have to go there to try to keep my Tour card.

“Obviously, getting those e-mails leaves you with negative thoughts in the back of your mind.

“But I’ve been able to turn that negative into a positive.

“I’ve gone from facing the prospect of having to enter Tour School to being able to push on in the Race to Dubai.

“My season has flipped in one tournament and I now have the chance to have a nice finish to the season.

“What happens from now until the end of the year is a kind of a bonus but there are a lot of things to go at.”

Storm will look to carry on from where he left off in the Swiss Alps when he switches to sea level in the Netherlands this Thursday at the KLM Open.

There are three more European events either side of the Ryder Cup – the ISPS Handa Welsh Open next week, the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship and the Portugal Masters.

Further high finishes in one or more of those events could bring him the opportunity to play in a number of high-profile, big-money competitions.

“If I can improve my position it gives me a chance to get a better deal with Taylor Made,” he said.

“And if I do improve my position it gives me a chance to get into some big championships.

“There are tournaments in China and Turkey plus the DP Tour Championship in Dubai.

“I think I’m right in what I’m saying that if some of the players do not play in Dubai, it then goes down the order of merit

“So even if I can’t make it into the top 60, but stay in the next three or four places there is a chance I could still play.

“It’s a bit of a dream come true to go from possibly planning for the pressure of Tour School to aiming for Dubai.”