We’re sitting at the kitchen table of the Oxfordshire home that he and Jen moved into this year. The dogs have quietened and the man of the house explains what it is about the game that beats him up, and then renews him. He loves it. He hates it. Sometimes thinks he could leave it, but never does.

At least not permanently. In early February, somewhere between tournaments in Dubai and Singapore, Eddie Pepperell decided to step away. Three months out for a reset. A run of missed cuts brought clarity. At the Italian Open this week, he returns. He feels ready to see if what he has been doing in peacetime can survive the battlefield.