A quick internet search revealed 11 golf tournaments were played last week across eight countries, all but one likely the most important achievement to date in the life of the winner.

(The PGA Tour is the exception here because while winning is important on that circuit it is, for the vast majority of Tour members, hardly life changing.)

While fans and media focus – understandably – on the biggest events, there is no less effort or sacrifice being made by those plying their trade further down the pro golf food chain.

Exhibit A this week was Finland’s Kalle Samooja, winner of the Porsche European Open in Germany.

It was Samooja’s second win as a professional but first on the DP World Tour and so overcome with emotion was he that he could barely get through a TV interview.

Asked by Sky Sports’ Tim Barter about people he wanted to thank, the 34-year-old broke down, eventually managing to thank his wife before the camera cut away.

The scenario is not an unusual one in golf where good players can go an entire career without ever winning an event.

Unlike most sports, even the very best do much more ‘losing’ than winning in golf and that makes victories that much more emotionally intense.

And that’s true no matter which level players compete at, including those that get little love from fans.

Despite a distinct lack of fanfare, Denmark’s Nicolai Kristensen will feel no less sense of satisfaction than Samooja after his play-off victory over France’s Ugo Coussaud on the Challenge Tour.

Kristensen said it felt ‘amazing’ to win and described it as ‘almost a relief because I’ve been close a few times but this time I took it and I owned it.’

That’s another common theme among the pay for play ranks: lots of work and practise for very limited reward if trophies are the measure.

England’s Meg Maclaren, a three-time Ladies European Tour winner, reeled off five birdies in the final nine holes of the Ladies Italian Open to be part of a three-way play-off.

Anyone who has read Maclaren’s blog knows how deep her obsession is with the game and how much time and energy she devotes to it.

That all counted for nought, though, when despite making a sixth birdie in 10 holes at the first extra hole, Switzerland’s Morgane Metraux rolled in an eagle putt to snatch the victory.

It’s difficult to imagine what more Maclaren might have done (short of the obvious of having one less shot during the first two days) and the only thing left to do is congratulate the winner and steel oneself for next time.

Almost every recreational player has at some point dreamed about how good it would be to play the game for a living.

And for those at the very top of the game it’s true that the rewards are great.

But the reality is that only a very few ever get there and even for those that do, nothing is gifted.

There’s no such thing as equal reward for equal effort in professional golf because at every level the players are giving their all.

From Minjee Lee to Chile’s Cristobal Del Solar (winner of the PGA Tour Latino America event in Colombia), we should applaud them all.