The irony of being a sportsman is the fact that you are only appreciated if you score a win. The audience doesn’t see the struggle behind making your own name in golf. The golfers are always expected to hit birdies and finish the round under par, and finish in the top 10. All golfers face this immense pressure to finish at the top, which also includes financial constraints. The two-time DP World Tour Winner James Morrison recently shared his struggles as a pro golfer in the DP World Tour Podcast.

Turning pro in 2006, Morrison has two DP World Tour wins, the Madeira Islands Open BPI – Portugal in 2010, and the Open de España in 2015. His roster of victories might seem small, but his determination as a golfer stays strong. In the podcast, he shared the struggles of being normal, “We’re not all flying through golfing life on private jets, and it’s all easy when you’re making millions. It’s not like that for normal golf.” Morrison shared his struggles that came with pursuing his passion.

He addressed the financial constraints a golfer faces to keep themselves playing. He said every week costs about $3.5k, which is an average for a pro golfer. Some top-tier players like Ben Griffin, as per Golf Digest, have stated that a week costs him about $6000. It gets hard when you spend so much but do not see many results. He talked about how critical you can get when you’re hit with the lows. Doubts and fears creep in, questioning your future in the sport. After 15 years of playing on the DP World Tour, Morrison lost his card in 2025. Which made him think about pursuing a different career path. “We’re not all McIlroy’s of the world, they don’t come around that often, and that’s the hardest bit about tour life are dealing with the ups and downs.”

Morrison had a rough year in 2024, finishing 122nd on the Race to Dubai Rankings- eight spots below the cut. This placed him outside of the players eligible to play in the DP World Tour. Despite his psychological struggles that came with failure, he pushed himself again. Morrison tried one more time to regain his card through Qualifying School, which was also a failed attempt.

In the podcast, he expressed his grief, “Most of us have to look for another avenue of making money and having a job. You want to play golf as long as you can, but at the same time, it’s not always beneficial to play for as long as you can.” For a brief period of time, Morrison took the role of an On-course analyst. But he plans to make his comeback at the DP World Tour in the Magical Kenya Open.

However, it’s not entirely true that top-tier players like Rory McIlroy have their life easy. Being the top comes with its risks and pressure.

Rory McIlroy’s climb to the top

2025 marked a new milestone for the world No.2 Rory McIlroy. After 11 years of relentless struggle, McIlroy finally won the Grand Slam title. His win at the Masters 2025 made him the sixth-ever golfer to receive the grand slam title. But, yet it was not all great for McIlroy this year. At the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow, McIlroy failed a driver confirming test. He was then forced to use a backup driver, which affected his performance badly. He was Tied 47th at the PGA Championship.

Since the grand slam victory, McIlroy has been struggling to get his motivation back. This has left the golfer drained and empty for a while. In the press conference at Oakmont, McIlroy said, “I’ve always been a player that struggles to play after a big event, after I win whatever tournament, I always struggle to show up with motivation the next week because you’ve just accomplished something and you want to enjoy it and you want to sort of relish the fact that you’ve achieved a goal.” McIlroy had also shared the fact that after accomplishing his career grand slam, he indeed lost his motivation, as it happens when a mountain is conquered, so the Irishman definitely needs to find a new goal if he is to make the 2025 season a legendary one.

So, goes to say that the life of a golfer does not exactly become easy at the top, it has its own share of struggles.