Paul Dunne continued to inch closer to breaking into the world’s eltie top-50 with a gutsy share of seventh place in the Volvo China Open.
Dunne will return home after a 17,000 kilometre round trip to the Chinese capital of Beijing where he posted scores of 71, 68 and then weekend bogey-free scores of 67 and 68 for a 14-under par tally on the Topwin Golf Club course.
It left the Greystones golfer sharing seventh place and trailing just four shots behind Sweden’s Alexander Bjork who collected the €433,330 first prize in posting a closing score of 65 to capture his maiden European Tour win by a shot on 18-under par. Björk entered the final China Open day a shot off the lead and was, at one point, in a six-way tie on the front nine before winning at his 44th attempt to become the first Swede to win the title.
Dunne’s effort is his fourth top-10 in five events and achieved on three continents after back-to-back top-10s on the PGA Tour and then a second place finish in the Spanish Open.
It has seen the 25-year old move to 30th on the Race to Dubai while he is likely to jump five places on the World Rankings to be the new World No. 64, his highest standing on the World Rankings.
Dunne capped his final China Open round in birding the par-4 11th hole for all four days and then birdied the 15th and 18th holes for a second occasion in four rounds.
This week he will tee-up alongside fellow Irishman and good friend, Gavin Moynihan in the inaugural GolfSixes event at St. Albans in England.
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