The 29-year-old Abu Dhabi-based Englishman’s forgettable 2017 suffered another “crushing” blow Friday when he failed to advance from the first stage of European Tour Q-School in Austria – by a single stroke.

Joy carded rounds of 68-72-68-66 at GolfClub Schloss Ebriechsdorf for a -3 aggregate of 274. Spaniard Tommy Cocha, who fired a stunning final round of eight under 61 to finish -15 and win by five strokes, headed a total of 22 qualifiers from the first stage, section B qualifier.

Unfortunately Joy, whose year has been derailed by a savage bout of malaria contracted during the MENA Tour’s South African swing, was so close and yet so far again. He’s now played Q-School five times but has never made it beyond the second stage.

The Yas Links-attached pro recovered from a “random” four-putt in the delayed third round with a pair of birdies to dip under par and get back to level for the tournament. He knew he needed to go low in the final round and although he managed a three under 66, Joy was left to rue  “lots of [missed] opportunities”.

“It’s caps off a dismal display of golf over the summer,“ Joy said in his refreshingly honest warts and all blog.

“Since having malaria I have not been able to come close to any sort of form that resembles the game I am used too. All the goals set forth for the year have come to a crashing halt and left me feeling absolutely deflated.

“You always want to try and stay as positive as you can but when you bring nothing to the table it gets increasingly difficult to remain upbeat and brimming with confidence which every golfer at this level requires to perform to the highest level.”

Joy said he could accept failure if he’d brought his “A/B game to the party” but had disappointingly been running at C/D level for months and that “takes it out of you more mentally than physically.”

He hopes to rebound quickly at the MENA Tour’s Golf Citizen Abu Dhabi Open at his home Yas Links from Monday. Fourth on the developmental circuit’s order of merit, Joy still has much to play for with the MENA Tour champion earning European Tour starts in Dubai, Malaysia and Morocco and for the first time a PGA Tour invite to the DEAN & DELUCA Invitational. A full Sunshine Tour card for 2018 and exemption to the final stage of qualifying for the Asian Tour also await although Joy faces stiff competition from in-form Swede Fredrik From and countryman Jamie Elon who is through to the second stage of European Tour Q-School via a qualifier in Scotland a fortnight ago.

“I know I have the game and what it takes to get and stay at the highest level of golf,” said Joy. “It’s just so disappointing at this stage of the season that I’m going to have to wait another year to get the opportunity to play and perform at the level that I want to be.

“Many thanks for all your support this year,” Joy continued in his blog post to his loyal followers. “Sorry it’s been depressing reading but hopefully the form will turn for the good and [I can] start posting some numbers that I can be proud of again.”

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