Neil Raymond’s bid to earn a first European Tour card was hit by a bout of the flu, but the Corhampton player is refusing to be downbeat at missing out on a place on golf’s elite circuit.

Raymond, who turned professional after competing in this year’s Walker Cup, was knocked out of qualifying school at the first stage, after failing to make it into the top 24 at Frilford Heath.

The Hampshire ace had been struck by the flu a week earlier, when he competed in the Dunhill Links Championship, and he was still suffering from the effects of it when he began his campaign for a European Tour card at the Oxfordshire course.

Raymond, 27, said: “I was still struggling. I wasn’t healthy enough to do the practise that I wanted.

“I didn’t play too badly, but I struggled on the greens a bit, which I have done for the past month or so. It [illness] always seems to come at the worst time, but that was one of the challenges thrown at me and you have to deal with that.”

Raymond’s hopes of earning playing rights on the European Tour will now have to be put on hold, but he remains optimistic about the prospect of a first full season as a professional.

“Obviously, it’s not the plan I wanted, but these things happen,” he said. “There’s plenty of other little tours, and hopefully there’s going to be a few opportunities to play a few Challenge Tour events and maybe a couple of main Tour events.

“I’m feeling pretty good all things considered and I’m just going to keep working hard.”

In a bid to improve his work on and around the greens, Raymond, pictured, is due to meet with Hampshire’s former European Tour pro Matt Blackey, a renowned short-game specialist, in the coming days. He is also looking forward to some down time, following his illness and a strenuous couple of months.

“I’m going to take a couple of weeks off and get my body back to where I want it physically and take a bit of a rest mentally,” he said.