By Joshua Lees
LIV Golf star Abraham Ancer has opened up on the struggles he had to endure in the early stages of his professional golf career, including losing his dad just weeks after missing out at Q-School.
Ancer has announced himself as one of golf's biggest names in recent years, after breaking onto the PGA Tour before joining LIV. It has not always been simple for Mexico's biggest golf star though, having previously battled his way through the minor tours and qualifying school.
Discussing the difficult start to his career on and off the golf course, he told LIV's Fairway to Heaven podcast: "In the beginning for me especially it was really tough, because I went to my first Q-School and made it through all the stages.
READ MORE: LIV Golf star sets record straight after 'cocky' Tiger Woods comment
"I get to the finals and then I miss it by a couple of strokes I believe to miss out on my full card. Then after the finals, the month after my dad passed away so I was like devastated obviously. I didn’t really know what to do, I went back to be with my family and wasn’t practising for at least a month.
"I didn’t really know what to do, I was still in Oklahoma and that year was really tough. My mind was not really all there, I struggled a bunch and didn’t really play good at all. I had to go back to Q-School the year after that but I felt a little bit better and I had to get through all the stages again and then thankfully I got my full card.
"Then I played a full season an got my PGA Tour card which was really cool. At the time I was wishing my dad could be here to live this moment with me because his dream was for me to make it in this sport." After finding his way onto the PGA Tour, he landed his first title in July 2021 at the WGC-FedEx St Jude Invitational.
For all the latest on news, politics, sports, and showbiz from the USA, go to The Mirror US.
Then one year later he became one of a number of stars to make the mega money switch to the LIV setup. Having struggled to find his best form on the breakaway circuit he finally landed win No. 1 earlier this month, prevailing at LIV Hong Kong following a tense playoff with Paul Casey and Cam Smith.
In doing so the Mexican landed his biggest pay cheque to date, earning a cool £3.2 million ($4m) on the back of his win at Hong Kong Golf Club. Ancer was superb across the opening two rounds, and whilst he was not at his best in round three, he dug deep to get his hands on the title.
Speaking post-round he said: "I'm really proud of that. I'm really proud of how I felt mentally and how I fought the whole round not having my best stuff. I knew it was going to be tough. There's some big-time names right behind me, and I knew there was going to be a couple of really low rounds out there, like [Paul Casey].
"I knew I had to make some birdies coming in or have some good stuff coming in. Unfortunately didn't have any birdies coming in, but it was good enough to get in a playoff, and then I hit two good-quality golf shots there to finish it off, and it felt nice. It felt really good because that was a very stressful round."