Ronan Mullarney closed out the Alps Tour’s season opening Elin Bay Open with a five-under round of 67 at Egypt’s Sokhna Golf Club, which saw the Galway man take solo fifth place as England’s Jack Floydd shot a scintillating seven-under to leapfrog the overnight leaders and take first prize.
Mullarney began the day five back of 36-hole leader Alvaro Hernandez Cabezuela, and he’d birdie the fifth and seventh holes to make the turn at -2 for the day. He caught fire on the back nine, birdieing three-on-the-spin from 10 through 12, to get to -12 for the tournament and provisionally go second on the leaderboard. Another birdie on the 17th took him to six-under for the round, but a closing bogey dropped him from a share of fourth place to solo fifth.
“I played quite nicely today,” Mullarney said afterwards, “I was pretty happy with that. My wedge game was pretty solid again and my putting was good, though I missed a short enough one on the last. It was some round by Jack [Floydd] though to win.
“It’s a good start to the year. I usually don’t start that well, struggle a little bit in the first few events of the season, so it was nice to see the hard work over the winter paying off. The few Toro Tour events I played in Spain were a big help, so hopefully I can go a few better next week.”
Paul McBride wasn’t able to back up his four-under second round with another good number today, starting with five successive pars before carding a costly double-bogey-six at the sixth hole. He’d birdie the seventh and 16th holes to get back to level for the day, but another bogey at the last saw the Malahide man sign for a one-over 73, finishing the week in a tie for 27th place.
Jack Floydd, who’d opened with a seven-under 65 in Tuesday’s first round, backed that up with another 65 today to seal a two-stroke victory over Italian duo Andrea Romano and Cristiano Terragi, with the former matching Floydd’s final round seven under. They were two clear of Spaniard Hernandez with Mullarney a shot further back in fifth.
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