“It’s a very tough game, especially when the golf gods aren’t on your side.”
Alex Levy nodded his head to the start of what would be a question. He agreed, though the thought was considerably disagreeing. Levy didn’t have to say more.
How could he, right? The year had been a grind for the 13-year-pro. A couple of top 25s. But nine missed cuts across his 27 starts. And Saturday morning, he was playing for his DP World Tour job. This week’s Qatar Masters is the final chance to lock in playing privileges for next year. The top 116 players in the season-long standings are good, and Levy was 124th. He needed a run at Doha Golf Club.
Round one was a fight, under tough conditions. The 33-year-old Frenchman birdied 2 and 10, but tripled 6 after trouble off the tee, and he shot a one-over 73. Round two started off worse, though. Levy said he hit the flagstick on the par-5 1st, and he managed just a par. He bogeyed 2 and 3. After a birdie at 6, he bogeyed 7, and he was two-over over his first nine.
Only, then he birdied 10.
And 12.
And 16, despite getting into trouble off the tee. Levy was now even-par for the tournament. The cutline, though, was looking to be a few strokes better than that, and he needed to play the weekend to have the opportunity to keep his tour card.
On the 147-yard, par-3 17th, Levy lipped out a hole-in-one. He birdied. Maybe he could do it?
On the par-5 18th, Levy lipped out a 40-footer for birdie. Another player’s caddie turned away. Levy’s caddie eventually hugged his player. Levy himself stared down the fairway. As it turned out, he missed the cut by two shots.
But man, what if that ball had dropped on 17? And what if it had dropped on 18? There were other strokes he could have subtracted, but these? Just inches!
And now Levy was done.
And they stuck a microphone in his face. He didn’t need to say anything.
But he did. And it was great. And everyone is going to tell you about the 33-year-old Frenchman who lost his card in a heart-breaking way, but this is the real story.
“Yeah, I give everything I had today,” Levy said. “It’s golf. It’s so difficult game when it’s not going in your way. But I give everything I had. I have nothing to say. I just give 100 percent. And it was close to go in my way, but it didn’t today, so that’s life.”
“You birdied 16,” an interviewer said. “Tell us about the par-3 17th.”
“Yeah, I lip-out for hole in one,” Levy said. “Like, I say, I give everything I had today. I hit the flag on 1st, get back off the green. And I just hit the perfect shot on 17, just lip-out for hole in one. And on 18, massive lip-out on my putt. But what you want to say.”
“It’s a very tough game, especially when the golf gods aren’t on your side,” the interviewer said. “You needed that birdie on 18. And you had another ugly lip-out. It’s tough to console somebody who’s had such a hard time today. What is your outlook going forward?”
Here’s where it gets really good.
“You know, golf can go quick in both ways,” Levy said. “I’m just going to practice and try my best the next few weeks. I know I will play a few tournaments at the start of the year. I will try to get ready for that. And we’ll see what happens.
“But if I give what I did on the last nine holes and I follow this path, I think good things are going to come.”
“I think I’m going to go, yeah, for sure,” he said. “And try to get the best card I can. And just to give everything I had and we’ll see what happens.”
Nick Piastowski is a Senior Editor at Golf.com and Golf Magazine. In his role, he is responsible for editing, writing and developing stories across the golf space. And when he’s not writing about ways to hit the golf ball farther and straighter, the Milwaukee native is probably playing the game, hitting the ball left, right and short, and drinking a cold beer to wash away his score. You can reach out to him about any of these topics — his stories, his game or his beers — at nick.piastowski@golf.com.
