Golf star urges tour bosses to fix “schedule overload” amid anxious wait over season-ending injury

Andrew ‘Beef’ Johnston is anxiously awaiting a scan on the injury that ended his DP World Tour season prematurely and has called on golf’s powers to create a more balanced schedule.

The Englishman was forced to withdraw from the French Open in Paris after feeling soreness in the same thumb that ruled him out of golf for much of the last two seasons and is now praying it isn’t a recurrence of the same problem.

Talking exclusively to Today’s Golfer for his regular column, the 35-year-old revealed his “paranoia” over his latest setback as he prepares for a scan on the day he should have been teeing it up in the Andalucia Masters in Spain.

He’s enjoyed a largely positive season, including finishing 3rd at the Omega European Masters for his best finish since 2020, and had high hopes of reaching the end of season events in the Middle East before calling an unplanned end to his season.

In a fascinating read, he also provides insight into the peaks and troughs of his last few weeks, calls on European golf’s bosses to fix the “schedule overload”, and urges them to put players’ needs first by introducing a full winter break when the season ends.

Oh, the highs and lows of golf! It’s been quite a month. From a last-second call-up to the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth to the disappointment of ending my season early with another injury worry.

Before we get to the serious stuff, I need to address the elephant in the room…  in my last column, I said I was gutted not to be playing the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth. Now, the eagle-eyed among you will have noticed that I WAS playing in the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth. I wasn’t trying to hoodwink you or get one over on my opponents – things change quickly in golf!

When I wrote that piece on the Tuesday of tournament week, I wasn’t in the field and I was about to head to a relaxing spa break with my wife, Jodie. By the time it was printed on the Wednesday, I still wasn’t in… or even the next alternate. Then, at 7am on the Thursday, as I dozed in a king-size bed at a Hampshire retreat while my fellow pros got their opening rounds under way, I received a call from the DP World Tour to tell me I’d got a spot due to withdrawals… if I could be there for a 9.35am tee time! The massages would have to wait… sorry, Jodie!

So many things went our way that week. Jess (Beef’s friend and caddie) was also enjoying his week off, but he’d woken up early and happened to be looking at his phone when Jodie had called, asking him to get on the road to Wentworth! He just so happens to live around the corner from my Mum, which is where I’d left my clubs and clothes, still zipped up in my flight bag after I’d flown back from the Irish Open and managed to get there and to the course in time, despite rush hour traffic causing chaos at that time of day. The traffic was oddly kind to us as well and we made it to Surrey with 25 minutes to spare.

I hadn’t hit a ball since missing the cut in Ireland the previous Friday, but during a quick-fire warm up I was hitting in nicely, and while Jess hadn’t been to Wentworth since he was a kid, let alone walked the course and done his usual prep, it’s a course I know well, so he was able to get his bearings during that first round.

It ended up being a great week. You might have seen the video of me and Jess fist-pumping as I holed my birdie putt on the 18^th by the light of the leaderboard on Friday night to make the cut – I felt even more pressure over that than normal because I was desperate to take advantage of the opportunity… and ensure Jodie and I hadn’t given up some quality downtime for no reason. I ended up finishing T40 after an excellent round on the Sunday, to bag a few Race to Dubai points and enough cash to replace that spa break!

Little did I know that the tournament I wasn’t meant to be playing in would end up being my last of the season. I flew out to the Spanish Open the following week and had to withdraw because I had a neck issue – nothing major, just a niggle that didn’t feel right. That ruled me out of the Dunhill Links as well – I wasn’t too gutted because it’s not an event I love. The courses and field are always great, but it’s just always slow, usually freezing and I’ve never played brilliantly in it.

I went to Paris intending to play the French Open but while I was hitting balls in practice my thumb – the same one that plagued me for two years – was sore so I had to withdraw again.

As I write this, I’m due to have it scanned later this week and I’m just praying that it’s nothing too serious. The paranoia is definitely there after everything I went through before. I’ve written about it before, but there were times during that lay-off when I genuinely thought I’d never play again and since returning I’ve received so much love and felt so grateful to have another opportunity. I’ve had tonsilitis so I’m almost hoping that the infection spread and has caused something to flare up in the thumb, rather than it being anything more sinister. But whatever happens with the scan, I’ve already decided to knock the Genesis Championship in Korea on the head and call it a day for this season.

It’s a shame because I really wanted to have a good few weeks and get into those Middle East events, but, assuming the results of the scan are good, all of my focus will turn to next season. I want to work on my fitness, and build up some more muscle and strength – that’s not something I can do when I’m on the road and playing. It could be a blessing to have this break and get that time because when you’re playing there’s just no respite.

I’ve said it for years – the DP World Tour schedule needs looking at. I don’t understand it. I looked at the start of this year and felt the balance was good, but the back end, from Prague to now, needs work. Name another sport where the season finishes on a Sunday and the next one starts again immediately, especially a sport where there’s so much travel, and prep, and you’re in the heat of battle for four days (hopefully!) every week. The overload is just silly. I know there’s a short summer break each year but I’d rather they knocked some time off that and added some downtime into this stretch, where there have been 10 or 11 big events in a row. Even if you’re flying and playing at your best, you can’t maintain that for that number of weeks. And if you’re not at your best it can feel brutal because you can’t reset, you just have to go again and again, hoping you find a spark.

I’d like to see the season end in late November in Dubai and start again in the new year, instead of ending in the UAE on November 17 and starting again in Australia on November 21. And if we want to get there in time to acclimatize and practice we’ll need to fly out of Dubai on Sunday night or Monday at the latest. Give us a chance to step away, assess our seasons, reset, recuperate, make some swing changes, test some new equipment, and get ready to go again.

I know we can choose to skip events, but when your status is on the line or you’re trying to qualify for the end-of-season events, it takes some strong will and confidence to do that. And they’re quality events that are hard to miss. But they’re too close together and too late in the season. I really liked it when the schedule went French Open, Irish Open, Scottish Open, The Open. It felt like that was the right time for those events, with the courses playing at their best and it benefited the quality of the fields. Take Wentworth as well – it’s our flagship event but it’s two or three weeks too late. They don’t want a two-tee start, and the daylight is fading fast so the field is limited. I don’t see how the biggest event can have a 128-man field. It should be 156.

It’s complicated because there’s pressure from promoters to have events when they want them and to go to certain parts of the world, but I think it would benefit the quality of the fields, too. As it is, many players will choose to skip events in December because they need some time off. I’ve only played them this year because I was coming back and wanted to get some golf under my belt, but I’ve only played that stretch a couple of times because I need to reset. It’s a privilege to do what we do, but we’re only human and right now the schedule doesn’t put the players’ interests first.

About the Author

Andrew Johnston – Professional Golfer and Podcaster

Andrew Johnston, better known as Beef, is a professional golfer on the DP World Tour who has also played on the PGA Tour and in three of the four men’s Majors.

The Englishman, who won the Real Club Valderrama Open de España in 2016, has his own YouTube channel and is the owner and co-host of the hit Beef’s Golf Club podcast alongside fellow Today’s Golfer contributor John Robins. He has also tried his hand in the commentary booth and in front of the cameras at both The Open and the Ryder Cup.

A huge fan favorite, Beef is a Cobra Puma player and is coached by Jamie Gough. Away from golf, he is a huge Arsenal FC fan and lives in Portugal with his wife Jodie and daughter Harley.