Former Town midfielder Jimmy Bullard has progressed through the first stage of the PGA EuroPro Tour Qualifying School as he tries to make the grade as a professional golfer.
The 34-year-old shot rounds of 75 and 76 on the par-72 Constable Course at Stoke By Nayland on Wednesday and Thursday to finish seven over par and make it through to next week’s final stage at Frilford Heath Golf Club in Oxfordshire by four shots.
"The first round was steady for me,” said Bullard, whose contract with the Blues was settled last summer.
"I felt like I could have played better but it was difficult in the wind. On Thursday we had a lot of snow but everyone is in the same boat.
"It was a little bit into the unknown for me. I am used to playing football so for me to come up here for the first time with a pencil and card in my hand was a different pressure but I really enjoyed it. I couldn’t sleep last night, I just wanted to get out there again!
"I entered PGA EuroPro Tour Q School as an amateur just in case I didn’t qualify, then I could go back and play some amateur events and some medals. But do I believe I can qualify? Yes, of course I do.”
Bullard hung up his boots earlier in the season due to injury after a short spell with the MK Dons and says golf has helped him to adjust to life away from football: "I have enjoyed it so much and it has given me a bit of direction in my life.
"I finished playing football in October and coming out of a sport you have played for 15 years it goes stone dead and it is quite a surreal feeling, quite a weird feeling I had going on in myself and golf has got me out of trouble a little bit.”
Photo: PGA EuroPro Tour/Matchroom Sport