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The European Tour has provided support to Andrew Johnston after the Englishman withdrew following nine holes of the British Masters on Wednesday, citing unease over the post-lockdown environment.
The event at Close House, which marks the resumption of the European Tour, is being played in a strict and biosecure format where no one is allowed beyond the course or hotel. "I'm struggling to get my head around it all," Johnston said. "One minute I'm coming out of lockdown, going out for dinner, and then the next I'm back in lockdown in a hotel room."
Although the Tour will not comment specifically on individual player cases because of confidentiality agreements, it is understood their chief medical officer, Dr Andrew Murray, has offered assistance to Johnston.
The Tour said: “We offer all of our players a comprehensive programme to support their mental health and wellbeing. This includes a mental health support hotline, which operates 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year. We are also aware that everyone has their own unique circumstances at the moment, which is why the 2020 season is an optional one for our players.”
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Johnston explained he considered not entering the British Masters . “I’ve been on-off saying I’m going to play, I’m not going to play, for months,” the 31-year-old said. “I kept changing my mind. But being here and being confined to the hotel, confined to the course and not being able to bring my family is ultimately not what I want and not how I want to live my life.
“We like to travel as a family and it’s just been very difficult to get my head around being stuck in those two places and then coming out and trying to compete. It just doesn’t feel right. I tried to come up here but I was leaving it later and later. I came up Tuesday morning to try to be away as small a time as possible, but it’s not good prep for a tournament and it shows I don’t really want to be here.
“I’ve learned to be honest about it, whereas in the past I might have just swallowed it up. I’m not going to do that anymore. If I’m not happy, I’m not going to be here. That’s the golden rule for me now. If I’m not in a good place, or I haven’t got the right set up around me, then it’s not right for me.”
In a blog post for the European Tour last year, Johnston spoke of struggles after a tie for 27th at the Nedbank Challenge in late 2018. “I went straight back to the hotel and just cried,” he said.
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Ryan Fox's journey to Close House was the longest of all. Fox left his native New Zealand at the weekend to return to the European Tour; the effort is paying off after back-to-back rounds of 67. "I was expecting a bit of jet lag but I've come out and played some pretty solid golf for two days," he said. "I'm very happy.
“Entering the tournament bubble has been pretty simple. The process of getting me into the bubble was a little different – getting out of New Zealand was pretty tough as no one’s getting out of there.
“Unfortunately my wife is not travelling with me like she usually does but I’m out here for three months, then two weeks of managed isolation when I get back to New Zealand, which will be quite difficult. But at least we’ve got some events on the schedule, that makes the trip worthwhile.”
At 11 under par, the Italian Renato Paratore holds the 36-hole lead.
Jonathan Caldwell is the best of the Irish quartet in action as he got over a poor start involving back-to-back bogeys to card a two-under 69. It moved the Bangor golfer to six under for the tournament, five off the lead.
Paul Dunne, winner of the event in 2017, made the cut on the number after a one-under 70 brought him to one under for the tournament.
Cormac Sharvin also shot a 70 but missed the cut after finishing on one over, while Gavin Moynihan also misses out after a 76 left him on seven over.
Leaderboard
Britain and Ireland unless stated, par 71, (a) denotes amateurs
131 Renato Paratore (Ita) 65 66
132 Justin Harding (Rsa) 69 63, Dale Whitnell 68 64
133 David Law 64 69, Calum Hill 67 66, Ashley Chesters 67 66, Rasmus Hojgaard (Den) 66 67
134 Ryan Fox (Nzl) 67 67, Oliver Fisher 65 69
135 Ben Stow 67 68, Robert Rock 69 66, Pedro Figueiredo (Por) 66 69
136 Matthew Jordan 68 68, Toby Tree 69 67, Clement Sordet (Fra) 69 67, Garrick Porteous 65 71, Eddie Pepperell 67 69, Jonathan Caldwell 67 69
137 Robin Roussel (Fra) 69 68, Andy Sullivan 68 69, Jens Fahrbring (Swe) 68 69, Jeff Winther (Den) 70 67, Adrian Meronk (Pol) 69 68, Jack Singh Brar 67 70, Aaron Cockerill (Can) 66 71, Lars Van Meijel (Ned) 69 68
138 Marcus Kinhult (Swe) 69 69, Benjamin Poke (Den) 70 68, Alvaro Quiros (Esp) 69 69, Pablo Larrazabal (Esp) 67 71, Laurie Canter 70 68, Jordan Smith 69 69, Adrian Otaegui (Esp) 73 65, Gregory Havret (Fra) 70 68
139 Adri Arnaus (Esp) 70 69, Richard Bland 69 70, David Horsey 70 69, Rikard Karlberg (Swe) 69 70, Scott Jamieson 70 69, Aaron Rai 69 70, Jason Scrivener (Aus) 70 69, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Esp) 68 71, Jake McLeod (Aus) 69 70, Antoine Rozner (Fra) 72 67, Nacho Elvira (Esp) 71 68
140 Richie Ramsay 69 71, Niklas Lemke (Swe) 70 70, Matthieu Pavon (Fra) 71 69, Alexander Bjork (Swe) 68 72, Haydn Porteous (Rsa) 71 69, Mikko Korhonen (Fin) 71 69, Daan Huizing (Ned) 73 67, Matthew Southgate 70 70, Graeme Storm 71 69, Lee Slattery 66 74, Joachim B Hansen (Den) 70 70, Sam Horsfield 70 70, Johannes Veerman (USA) 69 71
141 Brandon Stone (Rsa) 71 70, Guido Migliozzi (Ita) 71 70, Grant Forrest 70 71, Romain Langasque (Fra) 70 71, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Esp) 72 69, Andrea Pavan (Ita) 69 72, Paul Dunne 71 70, Dave Coupland 70 71, Jack Senior 71 70, Sean Crocker (USA) 67 74, Lee Westwood 70 71, Scott Vincent (Zim) 69 72
Missed cut
142 Steven Brown 72 70, Ben Evans 73 69, Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 72 70, Ross Fisher 70 72, David Howell 74 68, Carlos Pigem (Esp) 71 71, Wil Besseling (Ned) 70 72, Joel Sjoholm (Swe) 68 74, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 73 69, Andrew Willey 70 72, Nicolai Hojgaard (Den) 72 70
143 Cormac Sharvin 73 70, Sihwan Kim (Kor) 68 75, Maximilian Kieffer (Ger) 70 73, Kalle Samooja (Fin) 72 71,Rhys Enoch 68 75, Julien Guerrier (Fra) 73 70, Bailey Gill 74 69, Chris Paisley 72 71, Adrien Saddier (Fra) 68 75, Maverick Antcliff (Aus) 70 73, Tapio Pulkkanen (Fin) 74 69, Bryce Easton (Rsa) 72 71, Ricardo Santos (Por) 75 68, Louis De Jager (Rsa) 69 74, Thomas Detry (Bel) 70 73, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 72 71
144 Marcus Armitage 71 73, Scott Hend (Aus) 69 75, Paul Lawrie 71 73, Jamie Donaldson 69 75, Richard McEvoy 70 74, Connor Syme 72 72, Zander Lombard (Rsa) 72 72
145 Callum Shinkwin 73 72, Robin Sciot-Siegrist (Fra) 76 69, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 73 72, Dean Burmester (Rsa) 73 72, Julian Suri (USA) 73 72, Darius Van Driel (Ned) 73 72, Calum Fyfe 72 73, Masahiro Kawamura (Jpn) 73 72
146 Lorenzo Scalise (Ita) 73 73, Oliver Wilson 75 71, Francesco Laporta (Ita) 73 73, Min Woo Lee (Aus) 73 73, Oliver Farr 74 72, Alexander Levy (Fra) 70 76
147 David Drysdale 78 69, Sebastian Garcia Rodriguez (Esp) 74 73, Alejandro Canizares (Esp) 77 70, Eduardo De La Riva (Esp) 73 74, James Morrison 70 77, Ewan Ferguson 76 71
148 Michael Campbell (Nzl) 68 80, Justin Walters (Rsa) 72 76
149 Gavin Moynihan 73 76, Sami Valimaki (Fin) 75 74
155 Marc Warren 78 77, Michael Bullen 75 80
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