The K Club’s Liam Grehan recovered from a disappointing second round with a superb five-under 66 as he earned a Clutch Pro Tour card at the PGA Playoffs.
Grehan shared fifth place at the 54-hole event in Aphrodite Hills, Cyprus which secured him Tier One status on the Clutch Tour for this season which is an official feeder tour for the Challenge Tour where two full cards are up for grabs, 44 starts and multiple DP World Tour starts.
Grehan eagled the 18th for the second time this week and he was delighted with how he put behind him a disappointing second round and salvaged a valuable Clutch card.
“Got a message from Gary Murphy before the final round which gave me something to fight for and that reframed things going into today and I was really happy,” said Grehan who finished level-par for the three days.
“I left a good few out there with a few unlucky breaks on 14 and 16 to bogey them but I was able to get present on the next hole and finish well.
“I was thrilled to eagle 18 for the second time and I think that eagle will scrape me a tier one Clutch card so I’m thrilled with that now.”
The 27-year-old picked up birdie on holes six and eight before birdies on 10 and 12 moved him to four-under for the day.
He recovered from dropped shots on 14 and 16 with a birdie on 15 and an eagle on the par-5 18th to finish best of the Irish and nine shy of winner Craig Lee.
“Great experience playing the Playoffs. I was delighted with the first round, shooting three-under was great and to be the second best score was really good having not really been playing competitively in six months. First time under the gun it was really nice to produce a score.
“Second day I struggled especially the back nine, the wind was howling and the greens were firm and fast with a lot of grain. Once I started missing greens the Bermuda grass was difficult to chip from and I couldn’t get off that bogey train. Hitting five irons from 160 which is a normal 8-iron so it was difficult to hit greens with the crosswinds but thrilled to battle back in the final round.”
Scotland’s Lee won by three shots on nine-under-par and he will claim six DP World Tour starts including the Horizon Irish Open and BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth with England’s Daniel Whitby Smith taking second place.
Tim Rice and Richard Kilpatrick shared tenth spot on six-over with Rice carding a two-under 69 as Kilpatrick’s chances faded with a five-over 76.
Scoring HERE
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