THE sight of Graeme Storm with his head in his hands on the 18th green at the Portugal Masters on Sunday afternoon summed up his feelings entirely. His fate may not have been confirmed there and then, but he feared the worst.

Storm had a feeling his bogey at the last, having failed to save par after hitting a fairway bunker, had cost him his automatic place on the European Tour for 2017. By the time he had travelled over to Faro airport from Vilamoura, he was emotional as the situation regularly changed.

“It did basically come down to 100 Euros,” admitted the 38-year-old, knowing all about how coverage of the narrow miss was reported across the media.

There was more to it than that, clearly he was disappointed with himself that it came down to the final hole on the final day in Portugal because he had hoped to avoid such late nerves by enjoying a more consistent year on the circuit.

He said: “Overall it has been a battle all year to get my card, it has been down to all the missed cuts: Wentworth, the Scottish, British Masters … all the tournaments that had massive prize money at stake, so it makes it more difficult you don’t make the cut.

“Looking forward, that’s what it will feel like for me next year because I won’t get in to those based on the category I have at the moment. Even if I get through Tour School I won’t be in those events.

“I will get about 15 starts, probably a few invites, I am a past champion at the French Open, so will go there. I can try to qualify for the Open and the US Open, so I know I will have plenty golf to make up the money, I just don’t hold the Tour card.

“People think it’s the end and it is like starting over again when you don’t really want to do that at this stage of the career, but there are others who have been through it.

“Richard Bland … he has had the best year of his life after coming through Tour school, Bradley Dredge fell off and is back again and flying. There’s no reason why I can’t emulate what those have done, you would rather not do that.”

Nevertheless the situation that transpired on Sunday made the whole situation harder to endure. Having finished his round at the Victoria Clube de Golfe – where he had posted four sub-70 rounds to end on an impressive 15 under total – he kept hearing conflicting stories about his card retention chances as he sat two places outside the coveted 110 places.

Storm, who had made 17 out of the 18 greens in regulation during his final round, said: “It was one of those things … I didn’t know anything about the 111 suggestion then. It was being said on TV that the final card would go to 112 because Zander Lombard wasn’t playing and was sat 111.

“But when I was checking in at the airport I spoke to the Tour and they said Lombard wasn’t going to count. Then I got another call telling me that 111 would count and David Howell would keep it. I was lying 111 for a long time and would have kept my card but others were still on the course and that knocked me down and lost my card.”

The reason 111th counted was because Sweden’s David Lingmerth, sat in the 60s in the Race to Dubai, was an affiliate rather than member of the Tour, so he didn’t count when it boiled down to the 110 places.

“David Howell finished 100 euros ahead of me and is in the career list in the top 40 anyway, so regardless of whether he finished wherever he was always going to get his card anyway!” he said.

Storm – eyeing up a trip to South Africa and Australia to start the new season - is already plotting his path in a bid to regain Tour status rather than spend most of the time on the Challenge Tour, although he was soon back at home surrounded by those who love him to put a smile on his face.

“My wife, Sara, flew out on Saturday to support me and we flew back to Gatwick on Sunday, so didn’t get back until 2am,” said Storm. “Then we were putting balloons and banners up at 230am for my son’s (Oliver) birthday.

“We were up again at 630am up for the presents, we had a great time, he had a good day and a party at Wynyard Golf Club, although that didn’t make it any easier because people wanted to come to me and they felt sorry for me missing my card! It was gut wrenching, but it has happened and I am determined to bounce back.”

Barnard Castle’s Rob Dinwiddie and Harrogate’s John Parry have all missed their card and will be looking at Tour School. Stocksfield’s Chris Paisley has retained his card, however, after a solid year earned him 69th spot in the Race to Dubai.