Business of Sport: Tough in the rough

While golf's big-name stars burn brightly, others freeze in remote orbits on the satellite tours, writes Brian Keogh.

Brendan McCarroll: There have been loads of times when I have gone out and said, to hell with it, this is my last year' Picture: Getty

Golf is a numbers game. But while superstars such as Rory McIlroy deal in tens of millions of euro at the top table, the dreamers pick over the morsels on the feeder tours with nothing to keep them going but debt, blind faith and the unquenchable hope that, one day, they can touch the clouds.

Everyone loves an underdog – the player who survives on a shoestring budget on the mini tours of ...