Paul McBride will be forgiven if he wakes up with a sore head on Saturday morning after a dramatic final round at the Clutch Pro Tour Championship brought victory and promotion to the HotelPlanner Tour.
After a campaign that already brought two wins, the Island man entered the season-ending championship at Slaley Hall in eighth place on the Order of Merit, and needed to climb into the top three to earn one of the full HotelPlanner Tour cards for 2027 that were on offer.
Though there were certain permutations that would see him move into the top three without securing a season-ending win, victory would guarantee it so he set his sights on the top of the leaderboard in an aim to avoid having to rely on anyone else.
Rounds of 68 and 70 left him on six-under-par going into the final round, tied for second with Aaron Edwards Hill, and one shot behind leader Ben Hutchinson who came into the week second in the rankings, and they formed the final threeball of the Clutch Pro Tour season.
A fast start was needed to separate himself from the chasing pack and take a firmer grip on the Order of Merit placings, and that’s exactly what he got.
Birdies on each of the first three holes saw him catch and overtake Hutchinson for sole possession of the lead, but he wasn’t inclined to stop there and added two more on four and five to cover his first five holes in five-under.
Another birdie on the par-3 eighth got him to -6 for the day, and he made the turn for home having built a five-stroke lead and moved into the provisional top spot on the Order of Merit as Hutchinson had dropped out of the top three on the leaderboard.
Five soon became six as Edwards Hill double bogeyed the 10th, but it was never going to be that easy.
His first dropped shot of the day came on the 11th and Hutchinson birdied it to reduce the gap to four, but though McBride birdied the par-5 13th, he gave that shot back again on the next and Hutchinson was back within three.
The Englishman kept piling on the pressure with birdies on 16 and 17 while McBride parred, and the pair made their way to the final tee with the Irishman holding the slenderest of margins.
Both men had yet to birdie the treacherous closing hole all week, and as it happened, McBride wouldn’t have to as Hutchinson found trouble and ended up making a double bogey, leaving McBride in the comfortable position of being able to bogey it and still claim a two-stroke win.
Hutchinson, by virtue of his solo second-place finish topped the Order of Merit, but McBride finished in second and will now compete on the HotelPlanner Tour in 2027 unless he manages a successful run at DP World Tour Q-School in the meantime.
“I’m feeling great,” McBride said afterwards. “A little bit of relief, but I played really, really well today. I felt comfortable enough out there until Ben knocked in two longs putts on 16 and 17 and that kinda put the squeeze on a little bit. But yeah, I’m really happy with how I played and I’m delighted with the win.
“It’s brilliant [to earn promotion to the HotelPlanner Tour]. It hasn’t sunk in yet, and it doesn’t start until January or February and I still have Q-School to go, but I’m delighted and I can’t wait to get out there next year and give it a rip.”
Whilst McBride will be celebrating, Alex Maguire and John Murphy who each had chances to push their way into the promotion places with victory suffered disappointment as Maguire slipped outside the top seven in the rankings and failed to secure the seven HotelPlanner Tour starts guaranteed for those finishing from fourth to seventh on the rankings, and Murphy, who began the week in ninth, dropped to 11th.
John Ross Galbraith finished as next-best Irishman on the leaderboard in a tie for 11th with a level-par tally after a closing 74, while Daniel Mulligan and Dermot McElroy shared 23rd at +3, Robert Brazill was one further back in a tie for 28th, with Murphy (T34), Maguire (T45) and Marc Boucher (T48) completing the Irish interest.
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