When Jamie Rutherford was lying in a hospital bed in Portugal in February he wasn’t sure when he would get back on the fairways.

Having landed in Iberia that same day ahead of three weeks of pre-season training, the Knebworth Golf Club player headed out for a late evening jog on the streets of the Algarve.

The night was to end horribly though as he was hit by an out-of-control car while running down the pavement.

He is perhaps lucky to be alive.

Rutherford told WHT: “I fractured the bottom four vertebrae in my spine, broke my right foot in three places, broke and dislocated four toes in my left foot and had knee ligament damage.”

From then he stayed in the Portuguese hospital for 11 days before returning to his Herts home, remaining bed-bound for a further six weeks.

He continued: “I made a big effort not to rush back and start trying to do too much.

“That rest helped me because everything seemed to heal much better and quicker than everyone thought it would.”

Having been told by a Portuguese doctor that the earliest he would return to a golf course would be ‘at least a year’, the PGA EuroPro Tour competitor worked his way back to medium health within six months, building up his fitness and strength with relaxed four, five and nine-hole rounds.

Rutherford said: “As it turned out, when I did come back [in June] there didn’t seem to be much difference [in my play] which was amazing.

“Obviously walking round [the course] was a bit tougher and I didn’t have as much power in my game but I managed to build that up and then I thought I’d try playing two, three and four days to see where I was.

“Every step of the way everything was good.”

By August he had returned to the EuroPro Tour circuit – Europe’s third tier – playing the World Snooker Golf Masters event at Army Golf Club in Hampshire.

That was to be the first of five tournaments for Rutherford before the end of the season.

Having steadily worked his way back to near full fitness, he decided to attempt to qualify for the prestigious European Tour via Tour School, his fourth go at making the top tier of European golf.

He sailed through the opening two rounds of the school, finishing tied 10th in Abingdon in the first phase before storming to tied fourth in Castellon, Spain earlier this month.

That gave him an opportunity to negotiate the school’s six-day final stage at Spain’s PGA Catalunya resort and avenge last season’s disappointing finish at the same hurdle by finishing in the top 25.

He continued: “I think having played the courses in the third stage last year helped so I knew what had to be done and that gave me a good starting point.

“On the final day, we had the leaderboard every four or five holes and all the way round it showed that six-under-par would be the cut-off mark.

“I birdied the 15th to get back to six-under but there were three tough holes to finish with.

“I bogeyed the par-three 16th and felt like I had to birdie one of the last two. However, I didn’t so it was looking like I would miss out on five-under-par.

“However as we came in [to the clubhouse] the number changed to five-under and I realised when we were signing our cards that five-under would be enough.”

That indeed was enough for Rutherford and he had capped a year that started so badly with utter jubilation.

It was a successful day for the Times Territory with WGC’s Tom Lewis retaining his European Tour card after finishing tied 11th in the third stage.

Rutherford said: “It’s an accumulation of all the hard work I’ve put in in the last few years since I’ve turned pro and started playing on the EuroPro Tour.

“You feel like you’re quite a long way from where the European Tour is when you’re playing on the EuroPro.

“To end up making that leap, especially with how the year has gone, feels really rewarding and I’m really excited to get going and start on the European Tour.”

He added: “It’s still only a starting point for me. I have to work hard and make sure that it’s not just a one-year experience. I want to stay out there for the foreseeable future.

“Just to play with some of the players I’ve watched on television for the last couple of seasons is something I’m really looking forward to.

“Hopefully I can get into the field with Rory [McIlroy] for a few events but it’s just a privilege to play with any of the top stars.”

There is no rest time for Rutherford with the 2017 European Tour set to start next month.

He has the envious choice of a trip Down Under to play the Australian PGA Championship in Queensland or the Alfred Dunhill Championship in Leopard Creek, South Africa.

He continued: “I’m in the field for Australia at the moment but if I can move from reserve to the field in South Africa I’ll play there.”