Cormac Sharvin had to settle for the leading Irishman honours after heavy rain led to the cancellation of the fourth round of the Stone Irish Challenge at Headfort.
The Ardglass professional was just four holes into his second round and right in the mix when play was suspended following persistent downpours at the Kells venue.
A decision was then taken to cancel the final round at 2.50pm local time due to standing water on the golf course and a lack of enough daylight hours to complete 72 holes.
Unfortunately, due to standing water on the golf course and a lack of daylight hours required to finish, the final round of the #IrishChallenge has been cancelled.
Oscar Lengden and Emilio Cuartero Blanco will play-off for the title at 2:50 pm local time. pic.twitter.com/CfqDb651lB
— Challenge Tour (@Challenge_Tour) October 13, 2019
Given this was the last full-field event on the roster and with so many players jostling for position on the Road to Mallorca standings, it was a particularly brave call but with no alternative, a play-off was issued between third round co-leaders Emilio Cuartero Blanco and Oscar Lengden to decide the fate of the title.
It was the Spaniard, Cuartero who birdied the deciding hole, the 17th, at the third time of asking to seize the win while the hopes of so many others drowned in an unexpected deluge in the Royal County.
As such, all other positions on the leaderboard stood from close of play Saturday with Sharvin collecting the Christy O’Connor Jnr Memorial Trophy as the leading Irishman for the week as consolation, despite being robbed of his chance at a maiden Challenge Tour title on home soil.
His tied fifth place finish also sees him move to fifth spot on the Road to Mallorca standings ahead of the Asian swing in China with his European Tour fate seemingly sealed ahead of a shot at the big time next season.
As for the other Irish finishers, Dubliner Gavin Moynihan claimed a top-10 result based on his 54-hole showing while Whitehead’s John Ross Galbraith captured a tie for 14th at five-under par.
Naas pro Jonathan Yates, Clandeboye’s Jonathan Caldwell and Castleknock’s David Carey remained in a tie for 26th at two-under as they all recorded solid weeks with Michael Hoey (level), Stuart Grehan (+1), Conor O’Rourke (+2) and Dermot McElroy (+4) completing the Irish scoring.
Full scoring HERE
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