Spain’s Angel Ayora came out on top at the Rosa Challenge as his overnight lead would prove unassailable and a level-par final round would suffice to see the talented 19-year-old earn his maiden tour victory on his rookie year.
Dermot McElroy topped off a fine week with a one-under final round to secure solo second, three adrift of Ayora.
McElroy was a model of consistency all week with only six dropped shots over the 72 holes. Two of those came on the final day at the seventh and again on his final hole of the tournament. Two of his three birdies came on the back nine with one after the turn on the 10th followed up by another on the par-four 16th. His one-under confirmed second position on -10, one stroke clear of the Swedish duo of Jens Fahrbring and Christofer Rahm.
He comes away with 220 Road to Morocco points for his troubles and climbs to 26th in the rankings and will now have designs on pushing his way into the top-20 and earning promotion to the DP World Tour for 2025.
Ayora didn’t have it all his own way, however. He started off well with three birdies and just one dropped shot on his outward nine before coming unstuck on his homeward leg. Three dropped shots on his way back saw him drop back towards the pack. Fortunately for the Spaniard there was no bolter on the final day and his lead proved too much for the bunch to overcome. The win takes him to ninth in the Road to Morocco standings and one step closer to promotion to the DP World Tour at the first time of asking.
“This is my first year as pro, so to have a win is very special,” he said. “To give myself a chance to get onto the DP World Tour makes me very happy. It’s my dream to play on the DP World Tour, that’s all I can say. This is so good for me and for my team. I’m very proud of all the work we’ve put in to do this.”
“I’m going straight to Switzerland to play on the DP World Tour which will be a special week,” he added. “I’ll take a week off before coming back to play the Italian Challenge Open on the Challenge Tour to try and end the season well and get promoted.”
The course record holder as of yesterday, Gregorio De Leo couldn’t repeat his exploits of Saturday’s 61 as he carded a three-over to drop back into a group of six players sharing fifth spot on minus eight. Conor Purcell had an even-par final day with three shots traded back and forth on a battling Sunday on Rosa GC. He rounded off his week at four-under and in a share of 27th spot with Welshman Luke Harries.
Gary Hurley had a day to forget with a bruising six-over par final day. He had back-to-back dropped shots from the par-five third and was battling back after the turn, gaining two back before a treble on the par-three 14th was compounded by a double on the 16th. He dropped back to the lower order after a mixed week for the 31-year-old.
Next up on the Challenge Tour is the short trip over the border to Germany and Wittelsbacher GC for the Big Green Egg German Challenge. McElroy will be one of an eight strong Irish contingent heading to Neuberg an der Donau aiming to dethrone the reigning Francesco Laporta. The fifth to the eighth of September will host the Challenge Tour around the German countryside with just seven events remaining on the schedule before the Rolex Challenge Tour Grand Final.
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