A final-round 69 saw Paul McBride cut a swathe through the field in extremely testing conditions at the Clutch Pro Tour’s Ashburnham Classic on the south Welsh coast, and it was enough to secure a two-stroke victory for The Island man.
Rounds of 70 and 73 on days one and two left him tied for 11th going into the final round and he saved his best for last, recording four birdies with just the one dropped shot to end the week on -4 and overcome a five-stroke deficit.
Though he was in the fourth-to-last group and teeing off just 30 minutes ahead of the final trio, he had to wait close to an hour to find out whether he’d need to play extra holes, but the tough finishing stretch proved too much for his opponents and eventually the good news was confirmed.
“It’s a bit of a weird way to win a tournament,” he laughed. “But I’ll take a win any way it comes. I took my first look at the leaderboard after the ninth [he was two-under for the day and -3 for the tournament at that stage] and saw that the leaders hadn’t got off to hot starts, so I knew I had a chance.
“I didn’t look again until after I bogeyed the 14th [that dropped him back to -3 again having birdied the 10th] and knew I was right in it if I could pick up another birdie or two. I know some people don’t look at leaderboards, but I like to. I think I just feel more anxious when I don’t and don’t know where I stand.”
Another birdie followed on the par-3 16th – a hole that had been extremely good to him as he made a hole-in-one there the previous day.
“I had 154 yards downhill – playing about 140 – and hit a sand wedge. I usually hit that club 115, so that will tell you how windy it was. I hit an unreal shot and you could actually see it go in which was so nice.
“I’ve had six holes-in-one – that’s my first as a professional – and that’s the first one that I’ve actually seen go in really clearly. Today, it was a little more off the left so I hit a 53-degree to about 25 feet and holed that one. To play that hole in three-under for the week was so important.
“I made two good pars to finish, and when I saw that the leader had tripled 15, I knew that gave me a really good chance of a playoff at least with how tricky the final three holes are.”
With the early-season events in the Middle East cancelled due to the conflict, this was just his second competitive start of the campaign and lifts him to second place on the Clutch Order of Merit with the top three at the end of the season earning full HotelPlanner Tour cards for 2027.
But having hit the ground running and getting a taste of success, he wants more.
“I’m usually a slow starter to a season, so to get a win this early is great,” he said. “My main goal is to get off the mini tour, of course, but I’d love to win three times and get a battlefield promotion, as they say.”
While he has won multiple times on the Portugal Pro Tour in the past, this is the biggest win of his career to date and after several runner-up finishes and near-misses on the Clutch, Alps and MENA Tours in recent years, it’s easy to say the win was coming, but he disagrees slightly.
“I know people might say I was due a win, but I think you have to go out and earn it,” he explained. “I’ve thrown away a few events and not finished strong enough in others, but this time I didn’t and I think the 69 was the joint lowest of the day with Alex [Maguire] and a lot lower than anybody in the last few groups shot.”
Maguire’s 69 – an impressive bogey-free effort with three birdies – saw him climb 30 places and into a six-way tie for third that included 2023 West of Ireland champion James Claridge from England.
Tyler Hogarty finished tied for ninth after a third successive round of level-par, while John Murphy finished one shot further back and tied for 11th at one-over after a closing 73.
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