David, the 1986 British Amateur champion and a Walker Cup member the following year, has found the road to professional riches both long, hard and, in his case, physically painful. A ruptured disc at the top of his neck in 1994 all but wrecked his year for him, although he still played well often enough to retain his hard-won playing card for 1995. But the Northumbrian is used to tough times. He used to work as a labourer in a lead factory to fund his amateur career.