Liam Nolan has secured his first victory on the HotelPlanner Tour and catapulted himself into contention for automatic promotion to the DP World Tour in the process.
The Galway man entered the final round of the Abu Dhabi Challenge holding a two-stroke lead over Finland’s Tapio Pulkkanen and signed for a five-under 65 to shoot 21-under overall, with a four-stroke victory margin over his Finnish opponent.
Nolan made a steady start to the final round, carding pars on each of his opening three holes while Pulkkanen dropped a shot at the first, and then the second-year pro took firm control when he birdied the fourth, then reeled off three-in-a-row from the sixth to open up a four-stroke gap at the turn.
Just needing to hold his nerve on the back nine, he stretched the lead to five with a birdie on 13, and though he made his first and only bogey of the weekend on the 16th, he enjoyed a four-stroke lead standing on the 18th tee and signed off in style with a birdie on the par-5 to put the icing on the cake on a dominant performance.
“This feels absolutely mental,” Nolan said. “It never really feels like it’s going to happen until it does, but I’ve put myself in position enough that I felt like it was my time and I’m absolutely chuffed.
“Everything from what’s the worst that can happen to what’s the best that can happen is running through your head all the time.
“A four-shot lead, while it might look good on live scoring, it’s nothing. It felt like to me like it was nothing. I felt like all I had to do was lose a ball and have one of the lads hole out, so the mind was racing a little bit, but I played really well today and a bit more conservative in places where there were a few tough pins. But I’m just really happy to get it done.”
Nolan didn’t let his guard down until after he’d played his approach to the 18th and knew that he’d bypassed all the potential places for disaster and then he knew he could begin his victory walk.
“After the tee shot I was still kind of…… but after the second shot, I knew I could relax a little. I had a nice chat with Sean [his caddie] walking up the fairway. We’ve been friends for 12 years now, playing golf together, so this is as cool as it’s gotten for us.
“It means everything to celebrate it with him. He’s done every professional tournament with me, so this is as much his win as it is mine; it’s our win. We see it as a 50-50 team, so it’s so special to have a friend out there that you know so well. So massive thanks to him and he deserves it as much as I do.”
Nolan managed to keep his emotions in check for almost the entire round, but a mid-range par putt that he holed on 17 brought a big fist pump and his first major show of emotion on the day.
“Yeah, that putt gave me that four-shot cushion going down the last. I felt that if I’d missed that and only had a three-shot lead, there was still a little bit left to do, but when that went in, I knew I was closer to being able to relax.”
The win lifted Nolan up to 12th on the Road to Mallorca Rankings, and guaranteed his place in the Rolex Grand Final after which the top 15 will earn promotion to the DP World Tour. And though he’s stated that the rankings don’t concern him until after the season is done, he did admit that securing his place in the season-ending event and thus having a chance to earn his card for the main tour was welcome news.
“It feels great,” he said. “It’s huge. You can’t have a chance to play on the DP World Tour next year if you’re not in the Grand Final, so yeah, I’m thinking more about the win right now than the rankings, and I’m just really happy to win.”
Nolan is among the HotelPlanner Tour contingent jetting off to China for the two final events before the Grand Final, but he fully intends to make the most of the little time he has between collecting the trophy and boarding the flight.
“I will definitely find time to sneak in a few drinks with my friends and with Sean,” he said. “Just to decompress everything and then yeah, we’ll see on the plane.”
Gary Hurley is also among those flying to China for the Hainan Open. The Waterford man shot a closing one-under 69 to finish tied for 28th at -7, while Mark Power’s level-par 70 left him sharing 37th at -5 and it wasn’t enough to earn him a place in the field in China and goes down as fourth alternate.
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