Conor Purcell feels a final round of one step forward, one back stunted his charge on the final day of the Challenge Tour Grand Final but was pleased with his performance all week at Club de Golf Alcanada.
Purcell closed with a final round of 71 to claim sixth place on level-par, ten shots behind winner Marco Penge. It gave the Portmarnock man a season ranking of 29th which wasn’t good enough to crack the top-20 and earn a DP World Tour card for next year.
The 26-year-old needed a top-3 finish and after a bogey on the second he had momentum heading into the back nine after birdies on the third and ninth. However, after a superb drive on the par-5 11th he clumsily three-putted for bogey and cried out ‘that’s so sloppy.’ That was the tone of the week and his Sunday as sloppy mistakes hindered any chances of making a charge up the leaderboard after picking up a shot on 13 but giving it back on 14. He did end the week on a high, rolling in a 40-footer on 16 to put a pep in his step heading to Q-School Final Stage.
“I gave it a good run, it was nice to be in with a shout of getting a card,” said Purcell. “It seemed with the way things fell a lot of guys outside the top-20 did well so hats off to them but happy with how I played this week and battled to the end.
“It was tricky the course can flip you on your head and you can start snowballing. I managed to keep myself in check and played solid for the most part. A few things caught me out all week, hitting into the grain from the fairway and some weird ball flights off that but apart from that a birdie coming in on 16 was nice, a tough hole which was good.”
English star Penge went from the outside looking in to winning it all as he stormed to a six-shot win on ten-under-par to win the Road to Mallorca.
The 25-year-old posted a closing three under par round of 69 to move to ten under par for the week and secure an emphatic six stroke victory over Frenchman Tom Vaillant, who finished in solo second at Club de Golf Alcanada to also break into the Road to Mallorca top 21 and clinch promotion to the DP World Tour.
Penge follows in the footsteps of countryman Nathan Kimsey who triumphed at the season finale 12 months ago to win the Rankings, and he becomes the 13th Challenge Tour Number One to hail from England.
Penge started the day one-shot ahead of Vaillant but a bogey at the par five first hole saw his lead disappear, however he would bounce back brilliantly. Four birdies in seven holes around the turn and another at the par four 15th saw him move clear at the top of the leaderboard and secure promotion to the DP World Tour.
“To be standing here and saying I’ve won twice on the Challenge Tour and also winning the rankings is hard to imagine,” he said. “It hasn’t quite sunk in yet, but I am absolutely over the moon.
“I believe in myself, and I know what I am capable of. I was in pretty good stead to do well this week and I’m just really pleased that I could bring it all together.
“I made bogey on one after a terrible shot into the green. I find it always takes me three or four holes to settle in my rounds and that is something I need to improve on. But, after three holes, I said to my caddie ‘I feel normal now, so let’s try and get our foot down and move as far forward as we can’ and obviously I did that.
“I think birdieing hole seven kind of settled everything really and, once I got through eight, I knew I would be okay. once I got through eight holes and hadn’t made a big number, I felt I was going to be fine.
“My coach, Gary King, has been here all week and he’s been saying to me that I was hitting it great, even though I didn’t feel I was swinging it great but he said I was.
“It hasn’t quite sunk in yet, but I am absolutely over the moon.”
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