As Brandon Robinson Thompson strolls into Solena Villas at Dubai Creek, he does not look like most people's idea of a golfer.
Decked out in white denim cut-offs and an American football T-shirt, the Englishman states: "They told me to come casual," before adding: "I do have golf clothes?", as a question to whether he should change.
That first exchange with Life on Tour presented by Buffalo Trace host George Harper Jr, tells you much about what you will learn about Robinson Thompson over the following hour.
A man who exudes confidence without entitlement and is comfortable in his own skin but respectful to his surroundings and the traditions of the game at which he has made his living.
During their conversation that took place at the Dubai Invitational in January, the duo discuss:
• Robinson Thompson's upbringing in a large family on the Isle of Wight
• His sporting history and golf-mad grandad
• How a teenage injury changed the course of his life
• His party days on the US collegiate scene
• Having to leave the US after nine years and claim benefits while living in his mum's box room
• His journey from belief in his skills on satellite tours to knowing he could win at The Open
• Living his dream on the DP World Tour with one eye across the Atlantic
• Why he never gives up
Robinson Thompson was raised on the Isle of Wight - a small island off the south coast of England - and had a "cool, outside, dirty, rugged childhood" alongside six siblings and step siblings made up of five sisters and a brother.
He started playing badminton before the age of five and from there, with the help of his sporty grandparents, particularly his grandfather, played every sport going.
Then came the first moment that would turn him towards a career in golf.
"I snapped my ACL when I was 15," he said. "I spent my 16th birthday in the hospital.
"I couldn't do anything for nine or ten months and my whole childhood was always sports and then I had nothing. I just had two crutches.
"It was after that my mum, my gran, my grandad were like, 'maybe you should just focus on golf'. Little did I know that snapping my ACL was probably the best thing that ever happened to me. Having seen now what happened and how it's turned out.
"My love for the game just developed into a career and if I didn't snap it then maybe I would have played football for longer, badminton for longer and would never have taken it as seriously as I did.
"Thank God for that. I'm really thankful for that point in time that gave me direction."
A conversation with a friend then led him to the United States and college where, under the tutelage of Todd Sapp at Morningside University, he thrived, winning six events in his first year.
Alongside sporting and academic endeavours, Robinson Thompson also took advantage of being a young man in a foreign land and the college lifestyle.
"I can't say I took it incredibly seriously when I went to the US to begin with," he said. "I definitely enjoyed myself but I defintiely got it out of my system early."
You can hear more of his college experiences on the podcast along with the tale of a big night in Ecuador and the early tee time and barely believable 65 that followed.
In his early days in the paid ranks, he was helped financially by some of the members at Palmetto Golf Club where he was also a member, and it was in those early days that he discovered his ability to dig deep - and a secret weapon.
"Over the next two or three years there were times when I ran out (of money), obviously," he said. "And for some reason - I dont know why, I don't know whether it's the grit, the determination, the self belief - every time I got down to my last 500 bucks or a thousand bucks, I'd win a mini tour event or enough money to go, 'I can play the next couple of months now'.
"Every time I've had my back against the wall, I've found a way to keep going. I think it comes from my love of the game.
"I love it, I get it from my grandad. I think if you just love it, it's never been about the money, it's been about trying to make it, whatever that is. The love for the game has kept that alive, kept that resilience, the never-give-in.
"I say this to my caddie all the time: I've never given up on a round of golf in my life and I will never. I don't care if I'm missing the cut, if I've got no chance, I'm giving it everything I have until I sink my last putt on the 18th hole. It's just something that's built into me, I just refuse.
"There's always going to be someone better than you physically, there will always to be someone that hits the ball better than you but there's one thing you can always control and that's never giving up.
"And this may sound bad, I don't know, but when I see someone give up... it's a little win. He gives up, that's good to know. I'd never say it out loud but I'll check it and I'll go 'that's one less guy I need to worry about'."
While his mental attitude was not in doubt, Robinson Thompson still needed somewhere to play and while he made 12 starts on the PGA Tour Latinomerica in 2018 - an experience he describes as "epic" - he would not play a ranking event in 2019.
Then, after Covid-19 took hold, he not only was wiithout a place to play but he would soon discover he had to find somewhere else to live.
After many years in the United States and with a settled homelife with the woman he would go on to marry, Robinson Thompson was told to leave the country.
A ruling that would throw his life, his career and his mental health into turmoil.
"I lost my visa, I was given 33 days to leave the US," he said. "I'd been there nine years and I was given 33 days to leave. Off you go, straight back home.
It was quite a dark period. I hate throwing around the word depression, it's quite aggressive, I don't know if I was depressed, but what I do know is I felt like I was suffocating
"I was a professional golfer that wasn't a professional golfer. I didn't have a job, I had nowhere to play, I had no money... I was miserable.
"There were some positives but I was sat there one day during Covid, I'd moved back in with my mum, I'm in the box room of her house. There was a few months that I was signed on to Universal Credit, getting £412 a month.
"I'm 27 and I was thinking 'what are you doing?'. I'm a professional golfer, I played in the States for this long and I have nothing to show for it, not just financially, I have nothing to show for it. I haven't seen my girlfriend for six months.
"It was quite a dark period. I hate throwing around the word depression, it's quite aggressive, I don't know if I was depressed, but what I do know is I felt like I was suffocating. I felt like there was no way out."
When he was a teenager, it was injury and circumstance that pushed Robinson Thomspon towards a tee box rather than a six-yard box. Just over a decade later, it would be sheer detrmiation that kept him on track.
"It was at that point I felt, 'am I going to do this or not? Am I going to be a professional golfer?'," he went on. "And it was that point in time where I decided this is what I'm going to do. I don't know how I'm going to do it but I know I'm going to have to search for some answers and I'm not going to leave any stone untured and I'm going to make it work. I felt like I was quite determined up until that point, I felt that I was quite focused but I was nowhere near it. I was so far off it.
"It was at that point that I made those conscious decisions that this has to work."
Two solid years on the EuroPro Tour would follow, with a victory and eight top tens moving Robinson Thompson rapidly up the golfing ladder.
In 2023 he would win on his HotelPlanner Tour debut at the Irish Challenge en route to narrowly missing out on a DP World Tour card but it was events a week earlier that would shape his golfing trajectory.
Seven days before winning at Headfort Golf Club, Robinson Thompson had holed a putt on the 18th to finish 59th at The Open after coming through qualifying.
After the years of struggle, and with his beloved grandad watching on, he finally felt like he belonged.
"I can remember a specific moment in time where my belief turned into I know," he said. "And there's a huge difference.
"In 2023 I was playing on the mini tours and I went through a stretch where I won three or four times in about three months and then I qualified for The Open.
"My gradfather had never been to an Open before, I had never played in an Open before and he was able to come up with my brother.
"I remember walking on the first tee and looking around and I couldn't see him... I was quite disappointed.
"I walk onto the fifth tee and I look up and I see him right there and I start tearing up immediately, it was full circle, one of the most special moments I'll ever experience. He'll never go to another Open and he walked that round and the second round.
"It was during that week, I'm surrounded by the best players in the world, I wasn't competing, I made the cut and finished 50-something but it was that week and that moment that my belief turned into I know I can do this.
"The very next week I won my first ever start on the Challenge Tour and I think that was part of it."
The rest, as they say, is history. A second HotelPlanner Tour win would come in 2024 as Robinson Thompson graduated to the DP World Tour and in his rookie season he would make it all the way to the season-ending DP World Tour Championship.
Not that Robinson Thompson has any intention of stopping there.
A resident of Atlanta, Georgia and with an American wife, it is no surprise that for not just sporting reasons, his next goal is the PGA TOUR. But to do that he knows success on the DP World Tour must come first and he intends to enjoy every moment.
“My goal is to get to the PGA TOUR,” he said. “I’ve said this multiple times: I want to play on the PGA TOUR, I’ve been in the States for ten years, my wife is American, we want to start a family in the US so that’s where I want to be.
“But I've always said I want to play on the European Tour. I don’t know if that’s for a year or two or three but I always want to play on the European Tour and we’re living it, we ‘re doing it right now.
“I can’t forget that, sometimes you’ve got to be present, I’m living my dream right now.
“I want to win twice on this tour, I want to be a multiple DP World Tour winner and that’s what motivates me, that’s what gets me up in a morning, that’s why I do what I do every day from the start to the finish. That’s the goal and I believe, I know, it’s possible."
Robinson Thompson's story is a tale of many things: of family, of hard work, of adversity, of confidence and of doubt. But overarchingly it may be one of determination. And belief.
“If I can do this what I’m doing right now, I truly believe anyone can do it... I shouldn’t be here," he said. "The way things started I shouldn’t be here so I truly believe that if you believe you can do it, you can do it. I’m living proof of it and I’m doing it right now.
“The fun part of life is having an obstacle, because if there’s no obstacles I would assume that life would be quite boring.
“Don’t let the obstacle stop you from pursuing your dream. Those are the things to conquer. To my story, I’ve had plenty of those. And I still have things to conquer.”
Nobody will be betting against him.
