Having rediscovered the golfing bug, James Hepworth is aiming to get back in the big time.

The Ilkley Golf Club member is on the rise again after a spell in the doldrums and is just one step away from rejoining the European elite.

Hepworth lost his main tour card after the 2007 season and began to fall out of love with the game.

But the 6ft 6in player is walking tall again after regaining confidence on the Europro Tour last year.

A notoriously tough circuit to compete on, Hepworth finished third in the rankings to gain promotion to the European Challenge Tour this year.

Now the 35-year-old, who is due to tee off in the Challenge de France at the Disneyland Paris course tomorrow, wants to continue his momentum to gain a coveted spot back on the European Tour, which would see him competing regularly against the likes of Lee Westwood and Graeme McDowell.

“I’ve got the hunger back and it certainly helps when you are playing well,” said Hepworth, whose big victory last season came in the Calgorm Castle Northern Ireland Open.

His first Europro Tour victory laid the platform for season earnings of just over £24,000 and now Hepworth is launching an assault on the Challenge Tour – a circuit that Martin Kaymer of Germany first made his name on before rising to world number one this season.

Hepworth believes a more settled personal life off the course and working with coach Mark Pearson have been crucial to his resurgence.

Oulton Hall-based Pearson has helped modify his swing and Hepworth said: “Right from my first lesson with him, he suggested things which I’ve stuck with.

“I’m very tall at 6ft 6in and so had a tendency to swing very steep but Mark is helping me swing shallower.”

A top-20 ranking by the end of this season’s Challenge Tour would secure Hepworth a full European Tour card for 2012 and the former Yorkshire player is intent on making the grade.

He said: “I’m feeling confident as I’ve won a couple of times on the Challenge Tour before. I’m more than capable of winning an event, maybe two.”

A superb victory in the 2006 Challenge Tour’s Apulia San Domenico Grand Final was Hepworth’s standout success and ensured a dramatic return to the main circuit.

His other Challenge Tour victory came in 2003 at the American Express Los Enicos Open in Mexico.

With competitions in India, Columbia, Kenya and Egypt – in addition to locations throughout Europe – travelling costs are high and Hepworth is keen to find a sponsor, a task he admits is difficult in the current financial climate.

“I’ve been shot down so far and missed the first two events in India and Columbia because I wasn’t able to afford it,” he said.

Hepworth is prepared to pay any potential sponsors a proportion of his winnings back if things go well.

That sacrifice might be a sign of the times economically but also suggests how keen the player is to return to the highest level of the game he first took up as a ten-year-old.

Having started out as a junior member at both Bradford and Ilkley, Harrogate-born Hepworth was north of England youth champion and enjoyed success for Yorkshire before turning professional at the age of 21 in 1997 with a handicap of plus three.

An early mentor was Bill Ferguson, who also coached none other than winning Ryder Cup captain and fellow Ilkley member Colin Montgomerie.

Hepworth’s first event on the Challenge Tour this season saw him miss the cut in Kenya by an agonising one shot.

“It was disappointing, having gone all that way, but it’s just a case of getting back into the process of playing proper tournament golf, which I’ve not done for a while,” he said.

“The ball was going ten to 15 per cent further in the high altitude, which meant getting the right yardages was difficult.

“My caddy didn’t turn up on time on the first day either, which unsettled me, and I ended up double-bogeying the first and I three-putted the next.

“But I played well, even though my scoring didn’t suggest it. My game feels in good nick.”

Anyone wishing to sponsor Hepworth can contact him on 07540-636837.