Winger turned swinger Stephen Grant admits golf is a habit he just can't kick as he tees it up in the European Tour Qualifying School today believing he can still achieve his dream of playing on tour.

The former Shamrock Rovers wide-man has been battling back pain in recent years.

But he still couldn't resist the temptation to tee it up with another 117 hopefuls in Austria today - one of eight First Stage qualifiers being staged across Europe in September and October..

"I'm 41 now but the thing that amazes me, I am in a lot of pain with my back every morning when I get up, but I still won't stop," said Grant, who must finish in the top 39 this week to make it to November's Second Stage in Spain, where there will be another 72-hole examination before the 108-hole Final Stage.

"It's like I'm a glutton for punishment. It's like a drug right now. Every time I go to quit, I will shoot 62 on practice, and I'm thinking, 'Jeez, maybe I can put it together again.'"

Now playing out of Mount Juliet, Grant is joined at  Golfclub Schloss Ebreichsdorf near Vienna by amateur Peter Dallat as Knock's Colin Fairweather, Cork's Kieran Lynch and Ballymena's Dermot McElroy tee it up in a 78-man field at Stoke By Nayland near Colchester.

"I've just heard it's the biggest field in Q-School history this week," Grant said of the field in Austria, which features the likes of former teenage sensation Ty Tryon, who made the cut in the Honda Classic as a 16-year-old amateur in 2001.

"The field is going to be pretty strong but you have to play well through all stages anyway, so it is what it is." 

The Birr native played several practice rounds with fellow Offaly man Shane Lowry during a recent break in Portugal and knows his good golf is still good enough to compete.

He's survived the First Stage of European Tour Q-School five times but has yet to make it through the nerve-jangling Second Stage to give himself a chance of seeking his dream ticket at the six-round Final Stage.

“I've missed out a couple of times by a shot or two at Second Stage, so maybe I have a bit of mental hang up there," he confessed. 

“It’s not that you have to play better any than at the First Stage but to be brutally honest, either you have the balls, or you don’t, and a lot of guys choke, as I have done, to be honest.”

Business interests have allowed Grant the time to play just nine events this year — five on the Alps Tour and four on the Challenge Tour — with little success.

But buoyed some recent good play in the Challenge Tour's Cordon Golf Open, he entered a 36-hole Jamega Tour event in Ascot earlier this month and played his first 11 holes in seven under par en route to a share of seventh.

"I haven't played that much this year compared to other seasons but I've been too busy with business so I said to myself, I'll do it for the buzz of doing it," he said.

"I was making a ton of birdies in Portugal, so you never know. I have no massive expectations, I'll just go out and give it my all. In this game you just never know."

Sep 18-21 — First Stage Europe Section B Stoke by Nayland

Scores

1. Colin Fairweather

2. Kieran Lynch

3. Dermot McElroy

4. Michael Ryan (am)

Sep 18-21 — First Stage Europe Section B GolfClub Schloss Ebreichsdorf. Austria

Scores

1. Peter Dallat

2. Stephen Grant