“My game felt weird I never felt in control of it”

When Conor Purcell rolled in for eagle at the par five first hole to move to within three of the lead he must have thought he was set for a Friday charge but instead it proved to be a false start as his Road to Mallorca hopes ended at the Rolex Challenge Tour Grand Final.

Purcell slumped to a round of 75 at Club de Golf Alcanada to fall a massive fifteen shots behind Spaniard Angel Ayora who leads on seventeen-under-par but the Portmarnock man wasn’t too disappointed with his performance given that his main objective of earning a DP World Tour card has already been boxed off.

“I don’t know my game has felt weird, even yesterday bogey free I never felt in control of it. Just caught up with me today I couldn’t tell where the ball was going,” said Purcell who birdied the 3rd but bogeyed the 2nd and 4th in a rollercoaster start.

“Felt uncomfortable over the ball and struggled to commit, you need to commit to tee shots around here, if you hit them offline you get punished and yeah we will fight again and go again tomorrow.”

Purcell felt the full whack of the consequences for hitting wayward tee shots on the par five seventh where he had to go back to the tee and ultimately cost him a tournament ending double bogey.

“I hit it in an unplayable lie and you have nowhere to drop so I went back to the tee, it’s a difficult tee shot cross wind off a high tee and yeah we’ll try fix it and go again.

“I know I can put a score together around here, just keep working away and try get the game back to a nice spot.”

Play was suspended moments after Purcell had signed his card but he was looking forward to some fun with the family and maybe an evening on the marina before rounding off his season with two strong weekend rounds.

“Not everywhere, they come to a few recently, I enjoy having them around and enjoy having them off the golf course, hopefully head to the beach if the weather holds up and hit a few balls to get ready for tomorrow.”

Meanwhile, Dermot McElroy had to return to the 9th green, his 18th, to complete his second round after play was suspended for thunderstorms and he is on level-par after a round of 71.

Gary Hurley is five-under after a round of 69.