Relaxing in the Wynyard Golf Club bar, Graeme Storm tucked into his breakfast. A mug of coffee and a healthy portion of scrambled eggs on toast.

"Just bear with me," says Storm. "Feel free to ask me what ever you like but I'm just going to have something to eat, I've had nothing yet." The smile that rose across his face as he uttered those words was the sign of a man at ease, relaxed and happy with life again.

There is certainly a reason for his rejuvenation. After a three-year exile, Storm is back on the European Tour, mixing it with this continent's best on the greens and fairways at some of the most elite courses in the world.

The undoubtedly talented golfer from Hartlepool has rightfully earned his Tour Card again after an incredible return to somewhere near his best last season, when he finished third in the Challenge Tour rankings.

It was a placing that owed much to his success in the Ryder Cup Wales Challenge and, a couple of months later, in the Tikida Beach Moroccan Classic.

To add to those victories his earnings of nearly £60,000 for 2004 were also massively aided by the fact that he missed only nine cuts in 29 events.

In preparation for his return to elite company next week, when he will be teeing off in the £500,000 South Africa Airways Open on Thursday, Storm had a sample of what to expect when he made two cuts out of the three tournaments he played during the build up to Christmas.

It culminated in an eighth-place finish in the prestigious Dunhill Championship, which had the whole circuit taking notice once again of someone with enormous potential as he finished just one shot adrift of the world's third best player, Ernie Els.

"It was strange really," says Storm. "If I'm being completely honest I could have won that tournament and I know that in the end I had to settle for finishing one shot off Ernie.

"But I could have actually won that competition. I had not broken 30 putts all year until then. Had I stuck to the way I had been putting for the rest of the season I would have been right up there. But that's how it goes sometimes."

Storm's explanation of his own assertion that he could have beaten eventual winner Charl Schwartzel at Leopard Creek last month was highlighted modestly but with a tinge of the confidence that he had in abundance during his amateur days, when he became British Amateur champion as well as sinking the winning putt in the Walker Cup over the Americans at Nairn in 1999.

A lot has been and gone since those glory days and he is the first to admit that his failings during his first stint on the European Tour, after being handed the card for his success in the Amateur Championship at Royal County Down nearly six years ago, were as much down to inexperience as they were to poor form.

Memories of appearances in The Open Championship at Carnoustie and the US Masters will never leave his mind but there are certain things he would do a lot differently.

"I just got caught up in my own publicity," says Storm with an outlook that emphasises just how much he has learned during his time battling away to scrimp and save on the Challenge Tour.

"I remember winning the Amateur Championship, then winning the Walker Cup, playing in the Masters and The Open and everyone was talking me up.

"It was great. But maybe I just wasn't ready for it. My game probably was but my head probably wasn't.

"I got signed up by ISM (Andrew 'Chubby' Chandler's sports management group) and I didn't really consider my options. I just did it. Looking back that was a mistake and it proved costly."

As soon as Storm missed out on retaining his Tour Card in 2002, when he holed a 30-foot putt in Spain only to find out that he had missed the cut by one shot, proved to be the last time he played under the guidance of Chandler.

"I have seen Andrew Chandler once since we split and it was literally a hello," says Storm.

"I was annoyed about it because he didn't even tell me I was being dumped.

"He got Stuart Cage (part of ISM) to do his dirty work after I had holed that putt and I just thought that was a bit harsh after being with them for two-and-a-half years."

What frustrated Storm the most was that he was left in 'financial difficulties' by the parting of the ways. He claims to have been sent an itemised bill for credit cards, his mobile phone and even charges amounting to £88 for the ball-point pens he used.

The ISM group recommended the use of a psychologist - at a cost of £250 a session, which he had to pay for - as they tried to recapture his best form and Storm believes they played just as big a part in his downfall.

"I have had some good relationships with psychologists but I was using them basically because I was getting told that there was nothing wrong with my swing, there was nothing wrong with my talent and it was purely in my mind," said Storm.

"Looking back, in the time I was with them I was being completely honest and problems I didn't even realise were bothering me started to bother me. They work for some people but they didn't work for me."

After leaving ISM, Storm went it alone.

In charge of his own spending, he organised his own calendar and that experience has helped him recapture some of his best form.

Prior to the success he enjoyed last season he had had to experience many depressing spells. His father, Ray, one of his biggest fans, passed away suddenly in April 2003 and that came just months after the worst period of his short career.

"In December 2002 I was working at Hibernia Foods in Stockton because I needed the money.

"I was cleaning plates outside in the cold and I kept asking myself 'what am I doing?'" said Storm.

"Don't get me wrong I needed the money and I needed to work. It wasn't where I was working, it was more that I knew I should be playing golf.

"I only worked there until the January and then I went to Zambia and shot a 77 and 75, missed the cut and that was the lowest point for me. I was ready to pack it all in."

It was then that tour friends Steven O'Hara and Alastair Forsyth put him in touch with Scottish national coach Ian Rae, a move that has transformed Storm's view of the game.

He is now more comfortable than he has ever been as a professional.

He is managed by Matthew Hayes' team at Champions UK, who also have William Roache (Coronation Street's Ken Barlow) and former snooker World champion Dennis Taylor in their ranks, and they allow him to do things his way.

Storm has sponsorship deals with Taylor-Made, Galvin Green clothing and programming firm 2BM and he is based back in his hometown Hartlepool after a period in Lossiemouth, Scotland.

His fiancee, Sarah, a long-term partner, is a dance teacher and she has helped him to become fitter and more subtle by giving him stretches to do on a daily basis.

"I am happy again. Things are going well and I'm looking forward to this year," said Storm, who now works with Colin Montgomerie's old caddie Steve Rawlinson, who was born in Newton Aycliffe.

"I'm not setting my sights too high this season because it is my first year back, so I would say my perfect season would be to have made enough money by June to have retained my card, which should be around £110,000.

"That sort of target is OK to set but I like to try to take my goals a week at a time."

With the renowned Seve Trophy set to be hosted by Wynyard in September, a dream season for Storm would be to work his way into Montgomerie's team to face Seve Ballesteros' Europeans.

Ideally, the 26-year-old would love to have thousands from his home town making the short trip across the A689 to witness him in action alongside the likes of Sergio Garcia and Lee Westwood but he is refusing to set sights too high too early.

"Had the Seve Trophy been next year at Wynyard then I would have said it would be definitely one of aims," admitted Storm.

"But I think this season just has to be a steady one for me. I have to take everything slowly and not get carried away."

As an amateur Storm showed a no-fear approach to golf, shooting low scores without even thinking about his game.

Now, as he prepares to embark on the next exciting stage of his career back on the European Tour, he is looking to adopt a similarly fearless strategy in an attempt to stay there for good this time around.

Published: 15/01/2005