ANDY BEAL is ready to overcome the loss of an eye and climb back on to the European golfing stage with the help of a former Saints footballing star.

Nick Holmes is backing Beal's bid to regain fitness for a full-scale assault on the European Challenge Tour order of merit in 2003.

Beal, who lost his left eye after a cancer scare a year ago, has been granted medical exemption to play on the Challenge Tour but after playing only a handful of tournaments in 2002, the Salisbury golfer has to catch up on his fitness.

That's where Holmes comes in. The man who now manages Salisbury City in the Dr Martens Southern league has given 37-year-old Beal the use of the club's gym and Beal says: "I can't thank him enough. Apart from everything else I had a neck injury during the summer which stopped me playing in a couple of tournaments."

Beal's a big football fan whose dad was a season ticket holder at The Dell. "I used to watch Nick when I was a lad," said Beal. "Now I go and watch his team play at Salisbury."

Beal's brother Nev was among the consortium who rescued Salisbury from going under last summer. The family have strong Salisbury links with Andy living in nearby Winterslow and playing his golf out of the Salisbury & South Wilts Club.

When doctors found a cancerous melanoma and removed his eye last December, Beal feared he would never be able to play golf at a high level again. But the man who finished 83rd on the main European Tour in 1998, returned to the golf course determined to conquer his handicap.

"They say the harder you look the more you see," said Beal, "and that's the way I go about things now. I take more time to weigh up my shots and if anything I am a stronger player now than I used to be. I'm certainly a lot more determined.

"Judging where the club is in relation to the ball only remains difficult when I'm in a bunker. But because I know I might have a problem in the sand, I am working even harder on trying to avoid bunkers!"

When he played in a recent fourball with pals Gary Emerson and Dave Hutton at Salisbury and South Wilts, he astonished his partners by going round in 63.

Beal, married with two young children, received help from the European PGA benevolent fund to get started again in this year and received invites to play in the English Open and the Great North Open at Slaley Hall where he incredibly holed in one to win a car then went on to make the cut.

Next year, with the help of his long time friend and sponsor Mark Lawrence, he intends to play as many Challenge Tour events as possible. If he can make the top 15 in the order of merit, he'll regain the European card he lost three years ago.

Since his eye problems Beal has earned precious little prize money (just over 2,000 euros this year) and admits: "To do the 20 events I'll need to play to give me a chance of making the top 15, I'll need to find some more sponsorship.

"So no guesses what I'll be doing this winter. Going out with the begging bowl," he smiles.