Lucan native Richie O’Donovan fired a sensational seven-under round of 65 to finish as leading qualifier for the Sunshine and DP World Tour’s SDC Championship being held this week at St. Francis’ Links in Eastern Cape, South Africa.
O’Donovan, who plays on the Sunshine Tour circuit, qualified for the Challenge Tour’s Dimension Data Pro-Am event earlier this month but missed the cut, but now has a much greater opportunity as he joins the likes of Tom McKibbin in competing for the $1.5 million purse of which the winner will receive $255,000.
Starting his qualifying round on the 10th hole at Port Elizabeth Golf Club, O’Donovan came racing from the traps with a birdie at his opening hole and then added three more at 12, 16 and 18 to reach the turn at four-under for the day and without a blemish on the card.
Having put himself in an excellent position, he knew he couldn’t afford to play conservatively with just 16 spots available and low scoring all over the course. And he began the front side in even better fashion than he had the back, birdieing both the first and second and then adding another birdie at the sixth, closing out with three pars for a bogey-free 65 that propelled him to the top of the leaderboard where he was eventually joined by Keegan MacLachlan and Jovan Rebula.
O’Donovan’s inclusion now means that there will be two Irish players in a DP World Tour event for the first time since the Ras Al Khaimah Championship back in late January and a top-10 finish would earn him a spot in next week’s Johnsson Workwear Open at Edenvale, also in South Africa.
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