Ronan Mullarney fired three under-par rounds to capture his first professional title by a comfortable three stroke margin at the Toro Tour’s Valle Romano Championship on Friday.
The Galway ace bounced back from a disappointing campaign on the EuroPro Tour with rounds of 69, 68 and 70 in Spain with his six-under par tally beating St. Anne’s Cameron Raymond into second place after he bookended his tournament with two-under par rounds of 69 for a three-under total.
It proved a highly-encouraging outing for Mullarney who posted 12 birdies across 54-holes and although bigger tests lie in wait for the former Irish Amateur Close champion, he’ll take confidence from his first win in the paid ranks of golf.
“It’s nice to win,” said Mullarney who banks €660 for the victory. “Cameron’s been playing some really good golf and there were times it was quite close today so I was happy to beat him.
“But it’s great to get the opportunity to play at this time of year. Lads are busy playing Alps Tour and Challenge Tour and winding down their seasons and things like that so the field isn’t as strong as tournament organisers would’ve liked it to be but come January and February, there’ll be 100-plus playing Toro Tour, lads fine-tuning their games for 2022 so it’s only going to get better.”
Mullarney wasn’t the only Irish winner on the day with Kinsale’s Louis Galvin coming through a playoff to take the amateur prize. After tying fifth with Swede Kalle Svedermann at five-over par in regulation, Galvin prevailed in the two-hole playoff to the delight of the onlooking Mullarney.
“Louis is a great lad, he’s only 15,” Mullarney revealed. “Cameron and I were watching him in the playoff and we were delighted to see him win it.”
- Full scoring HERE
Leave a comment