The Final Stage of DP World Tour Qualifying School is a stress-inducing experience for players as it is, but Tom Lewis has already been through a wild mix of emotions just to get there.
In a story that highlights how bizarre elite golf can be, Lewis left his Second Stage venue, Fontanals, thinking he'd fallen short of finishing among the top 21 and ties to qualify.
And while that proved the case, what he didn't expect was that near standstill traffic would be a blessing in disguise.
Due to a delayed start to the final round, darkness meant a play-off to determine the allocation of alternate spots was postponed to Monday morning - enabling Lewis to take part.
Even then, there was a one-and-a-half-hour delay to the four-man play-off but when it got under way Lewis played the hole "like a video game" to claim the eighth alternate spot. But he didn't make much of it, only finding out he'd got into the 156-player field for Final Stage shortly before boarding a flight home to England.
"My manager is caddying for me this week and he said that he thinks it's probably the weirdest two hours we've ever had together and we've worked together for ten years," Lewis told the DP World Tour on Friday.
"It was just one of those things where I cut a driver into the middle of the fairway, I hit it to four and a half feet and I holed the putt and it was like, okay, great, it was worth it.
"But I didn't think much of it because we were playing for an alternate spot spot and I got in and people were like I think you're going to have a good chance.
"I was like, 'okay, well, I think I'm going to go home'. I was at the airport and then checked all my bags through and then they were like, you're in. So I came back two days later!"
To be here is not a very nice situation, but for me to be here after obviously last week's situation, it's probably the happiest I've been being at Tour school, which is a nice place to be in
Lewis has played predominantly on the HotelPlanner Tour since losing his DP World Tour playing rights at the end of the 2024 season.
A two-time winner on the DP World Tour, both times at the Portugal Masters, the 35-year-old is somewhat of a veteran at playing at Qualifying School.
He regained his card back through the pathway in 2016 and this marks his fourth appearance in the last five years, during which he won back his DP World Tour card back in 2023.
Despite his experience, Lewis admits Final Stage is a challenge unlike any other.
"It's a difficult week, like it doesn't matter how good you are as a player, it doesn't mean that the best players are going to qualify.
"You're only going to need one bad round and you're basically going to miss out on your status and it's a stressful week and I put myself under a massive amount of stress when I don't need to.
"To be here is not a very nice situation, but for me to be here after obviously last week's situation, it's probably the happiest I've been being at Tour school, which is a nice place to be in."
Having made one top ten from 19 starts on the 2026 Road to Mallorca, Lewis will improve his status on the HotelPlanner Tour next year if he makes the 72-hole cut and he is hoping he may yet have reason for further cheer.
If he was to finish as one of the top 15 and ties, he would reclaim DP World Tour playing rights after two years away.
"It's been a tough few years, probably more than a few years now," he said.
"So, you kind of give up hope a little bit that good things can happen, but that bit of luck last week was the first bit of good luck I've had in a long time.
"But things happen for a reason. Some great things have happened to me in the past that I can't explain.
"Hopefully some great stuff happens for me this week. If it does, then it's a great story. If not, then it's lost in the wind."
