Liam Nolan overcame blisters on his feet to recover from a slow start and card a superb final round of 66 to finish fourth at the MyGolfLife Open hosted by Pecanwood in South Africa.
Just a week after finishing third at the SDC Open, a shot behind eventual playoff winner Daniel Van Tonder, Nolan scored heavily again with a 21-under total and clinch an automatic spot in next week’s Cell C Cape Town Open at Royal Cape meaning he can keep the ball rolling and he is 36-under for his two HotelPlanner Tour appearances.
“Delighted,” said the Galway man. “It means the world, it’s my first year as a pro so to have a really good start to the season and to be invited into more tournaments it’s so important especially early in my career and early in the season.”
Teeing off eight shots off the pace, Nolan’s first move was in the wrong direction with a dropped shot on the 4th but he rallied brilliantly with birdies on the 5th, 7th, 9th, 10th, 12th, 15th and 17th to maintain his place in second in the Road to Mallorca Rankings and keep his unlikely early DP World Tour bid on track.
“Didn’t get off to the fastest of starts today but kept trusting what I was doing, kept hitting the shots I was hitting all week and a few putts dropped as well,” he continued.
The top-20 at the end of the campaign earn DP World Tour cards and the 24-year-old arguably is more satisfied with his fourth place finish and the consistency he showed despite struggling with foot blisters.
“It was great, I was not as fresh as last week after a long week so I had to knuckle down and concentrate over each shot and make sure the plan was really well thought out in my head. I had blisters on my feet and everything so just delighted to shoot those scores.
“Consistency is the key, when it’s not going the way you want it to and to just get the ball in for par and be patient and wait for the putter to get hot which is what I’ve done the last two weeks.”
A host of Sunshine Tour players play in the South African events, producing one of the more beefier fields on the HotelPlanner Tour which makes Nolan’s performances even more admirable.
The former Walker Cup star has run into a steam train in Van Tonder who won again this week but if he wins next week in Cape Town his DP World Tour card will be secured.
A re-rank will take place after July’s
D+D REAL Czech Challenge to get better status where he can look forward to more starts.
“I don’t focus too much on the fields I’m playing just more on my own game and own plan. I’m very happy with how I have been playing and delighted to get going next week hopefully.”
Nolan’s top-5 finish earns him a start next week and top-5 finishes in co-sanctioned events and top-10 finishes in regular events will earn Nolan more starts on top of the invites that are sure to come his way.
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