In the latest episode of the Life on Tour presented by Buffalo Trace podcast, Marcus Armitage opens up on the stories that have shaped him on his relentless climb to success on the DP World Tour.
The charismatic Englishman, affectionately known as ‘The Bullet’, is in his seventh consecutive campaign on golf’s global tour, having regained his playing privileges for the second time at Qualifying School in 2019.
Since then, Armitage has become a DP World Tour winner at the Porsche European Open in 2021 and the 38-year-old registered his career-best performance on the Race to Dubai Rankings Delivered by DP World Tour last season.
While things are positive for the Englishman now, the memories of the financial struggles he faced earlier in his career serve as a reminder that he can’t rest on his laurels.
The height of those troubles came in 2019, with Armitage revealing that he debt approaching £100,000 which left him facing an uncertain future in the sport.
Such were his struggles to pay bills, he required a loan from the bank just to enable to him to attend Qualifying School that year.
In a candid conversation with host George Harper Jr., Armitage recalls how even after coming through Q-School, he still required financial support with fellow professional golfers Robert Rock and Sam Walker helping him out.
“I was skint,” he said. “Robert Rock and Sam Walker helped me out a lot. Sam paid for my caddie and Rocky paid for my flights. It was amazing.
“He said, I’ll tell you when you can pay me back’, because he knew how much debt I was in. I was in about £90,000 debt.”
Days later, in his opening event of the 2020 season, Armitage was in a tie for fourth heading into the final round of the Alfred Dunhill Championship, but he fell away as a closing 83 saw him finish in a tie for 42nd and lose out on valuable prize money.
However, it wasn’t long after that he received a huge financial lifeline from two sponsors, who paid him £50,000 in return for a percentage of future earnings.
“I can remember the two of them putting their arm around me and saying, ‘the struggle is over kid’” Armitage recalls tearfully.
“I’ll never forget that day.”
In the first event after, he finished third at the South African Open – to that point his best result on the DP World Tour.
“They had lifted a weight off me,” he added.
“I was in the trenches, and everything [had] felt like a battle.”
Without his card from Q-School and the acts of generosity in the aftermath, Armitage admits he was close to bankruptcy.
A professional since 2008, Armitage played on a host of mini tours, before progressing through the EuroPro Tour and the HotelPlanner Tour to get to the DP World Tour for the first time at the end of 2016.
Reaching the DP World Tour for the first time is the realisation of a dream for many, including Armitage, but he looks back on his rookie season in 2017 with mixed emotions.
Across his 26 appearances, he registered one top ten and lost his playing privileges after finishing 152nd on the Race to Dubai and believes he struggled with a sense of imposter syndrome.
“When I look back, I feel a little bit sad for myself,” he said. “At the time I didn’t go ‘I have a tour card; I’m going to do this.’ I went, ‘I have got a Tour card, how lucky am I, just enjoy this because it is going to be taken away from me.’
“I didn’t believe I was good enough to be there.”
Now, on the back of his career-best campaign on the DP World Tour, Armitage is hoping a shift in mindset can help him take his career to new heights.
After toiling hard to retain his card in 2023 and then in 2024, he all but secured his playing status for the 2026 campaign with a runner-up finish at the Ras Al Khaimah Championship in January.
It left him feeling like he was on a “deck chair” for the rest of the Race to Dubai season, with two further top tens helping him reach the season-ending DP World Tour Championship for the third time.
While happy with the achievement, he was not satisfied and has his sights set on landing silverware in the new campaign.
“Now, surviving isn’t enough,” he said. “I want to smash through the glass ceiling, strive for more.”
To watch the latest Life on Tour episode in full, click on the video at the top of the page.
