Euan Walker produced a sensational final round to win the Swiss Challenge after the tournament was reduced to 36 holes at Golf Saint Apollinaire, while Conor Purcell finished tied for 12th.
Following a three-hour weather delay on Thursday and the entirety of play being washed out on Saturday due to a flooded course, and half the field returned to the tee on Sunday where Purcell, having dropped three strokes in the five holes he’d covered before darkness called a halt to Friday’s action, rebounded to cover the remaining 13 in one-under.
It saw him move to -2 overall and finish just outside the top 10, one ahead of Gary Hurley and Cormac Sharvin who had already finished their second rounds prior to the weekend. Purcell drops one place to 11th in the Road to Mallorca rankings, but remains on course for promotion to the DP World Tour, while Hurley remains in 40th.
But the final day proved to be all about Walker who was not to be stopped as he fired a bogey-free six under par final round and secure a dominant three stroke win in Folgensbourg.
The Scotsman, with rounds of 69-66, reached nine under par for the week, two clear of Norwegian Kristoffer Reitan and Englishman Bradley Bawden who shared second place on six under par.
Walker climbs to 21st on the Road to Mallorca Rankings to move into promotion contention with four events remaining of the season and was delighted to secure a second Challenge Tour title after a testing 24 hours.
“It feels amazing,” he said. “Honestly, even though it’s a 36-hole event, it feels important.
“You get those feelings, pre-tournament, about whether you can compete with everyone else, so to have a stop-start week like this just amplifies those feelings. I’ve tried my best to keep refocussing and telling myself I can still do it, and I’m pleased that it’s worked.
“It feels like this week I’m back on track and playing close to my best. I really played beautifully. That’s one of the best rounds I’ve played all year.”
Walker began his second round from the tenth hole on Friday, and resumed on Sunday on the 13th hole, three shots off the lead.
The 29-year-old cut that to one after making birdies at the 15th and 17th, before he added a third gain of the day at the first – his tenth – to join the leaders. He continued that streak by making three more birdies in a four-hole stretch from the fourth to surge into the outright lead for the first time.
Walker now looks set to tee it up in the season-ending Rolex Challenge Tour Grand Final supported by The R&A for a third successive year and is hoping victory this week can spur him on to graduation.
“This is massively important,” he added. “I feel like I’ve been playing well enough all year to make the Rolex Grand Final but I’ve not had a lot to show for it.
“Before this week I was right on the borderline, still needing a good performance to make it to Mallorca, and I thought the two events in China might be my last two to do that. I’ve kept playing well but I’ve been slipping down the Rankings, so to have a week like this is absolutely amazing.
“Now I will go into the two events in China with confidence, and I’ll make it back to Mallorca for my third year in a row. Hopefully it’s third time lucky this year.”
Frenchman Benjamin Hébert finished on five under par in fourth, with four players one shot further back in fifth including Luca Galliano from Switzerland, Joshua Grenville-Wood from the UAE, Australian Hayden Hopewell and Frenchman Robin Sciot-Siegrist.
The top seven places on the Road to Mallorca Rankings remain the same, with Englishman John Parry retaining his spot as the Number One. Frenchman Alexander Levy moves up one place to eighth, with Hébert up three places to ninth following his fourth place finish this week.
The Road to Mallorca returns to the Czech Republic next week for the D+D Real Czech Challenge at Royal Beroun Golf Club, taking place from 2-5 October, 2024.
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