Home favourite, Cormac Sharvin finished five shots back in a share of ninth place at the close of play at the Galgorm Resort and Spa NI Open, presented by Modest! Golf.
The Ardglass professional fired five birdies in a four-under 67 to claim a top-10 finish on 14-under-par.
He’ll no doubt look back on this week and highlight moving day yesterday, where he only managed an even-par effort, as the round that dented his tournament hopes but there’s plenty of consolation to be found from an encouraging performance on home soil.
For one, Sharvin becomes the inaugural winner of the Bridgestone Award, which was given to the leading Irish player under the age of 30, while he picks up a cheque worth € 3,960 and some valuable world rankings points to go with it.
There were some other bright performance from a home perspective this week too with Clandeboye’s Jonathan Caldwell signing off with a four-under-par 67 of his own to finish in a share of 13th on minus-twelve for the tournament.
Ballymena’s Dermot McElroy finished one shot further back in a tie for 16th after a 68 today while Donegal’s Michael McGeady signed off with a solid 70, good enough for an eight-under-par total and a share of 26th spot.
The Royal Dublin’s Niall Kearney put in a much improved three-under-par 68 for a minus-four finish while Chris Selfridge can take heart from clocking four rounds with a two-under-par tournament total at the end of them considering his injury problems of late.
Naas’ Conor O’Rourke fired a confidence boosting four-under-par 67 to sneak into the red for the week on minus-one while Neil O’Briain and Kevin Phelan ended their tournaments at even par and plus five respectively.
Let’s talk the champion however and Calum Hill soared up the leaderboard with a closing 64 to claim his maiden European Challenge Tour title in dramatic fashion at the Galgorm Resort and Spa.
The Scot started the day four shots behind overnight co-leaders Scott Henry and Victor Perez and began to climb the leaderboard immediately by driving the green on the 336-yard par four second before going on to hole the eagle putt.
After reaching the turn in 33 Hill made his move over the back nine, reeling off four birdies in eight holes before narrowly missing an eagle putt on the 18th.
The 23-year-old tapped in for birdie to reach 19-under-par overall, and after Henry dropped four shots over his closing three holes it was Hill who was crowned champion.
Making just his fifth Challenge Tour start this week, Hill admitted he was lost for words following his one-shot triumph.
“I can’t believe it,” he said. “On the stretch I was hitting a few great shots and was holing a few great putts but I thought it would be for second or third place – not for the victory.
“I really narrowly missed a putt on 18 for eagle which was just hanging over the edge – I thought that would make it interesting as Scott was 22 under when I was going down 17 and I made a birdie to get to 18 under. I didn’t even think it would be close.
“It didn’t even cross my mind as I was playing 18. I hit two nice shots and just tried to give the putter a run, and thought it was a nice finish to a great nine holes.
“With the par five 18th to play I honestly thought Scott had a chance of winning still, and I wasn’t thinking that I would be the champion.
“I came into the week trying to just rise up the Rankings as much as I could and at the end of the season keep my card as this is just my fifth start on the Challenge Tour and I’m playing on invites.
“So to now have a category and have everything sorted is a bit of a joke – it’s absolutely brilliant isn’t it?
“My girlfriend has been trying to call me from America – so I can’t wait to call her back and tell her the good news.”
With victory Hill rises up 156 places on the Road to Ras Al Khaimah to 43rd position with 33,379 points. After sharing second place with Henry, Stuart Manley moves up to fourth place in the Rankings with 95,649 points.
Home favourite Cormac Sharvin finished five shots back in a share of ninth place, a result which made him the inaugural winner of the Bridgestone Award, which was given to the leading Irish player under 30.
Final scores:
265 C Hill (Sco) 66 67 68 64,
266 S Manley (Wal) 64 68 66 68, S Henry (Sco) 67 66 64 69,
268 V Perez (Fra) 68 64 65 71, M Kim (Kor) 64 67 69 68, J Singh Brar (Eng) 69 71 64 64,
269 M Haastrup (Den) 66 66 66 71, E Ferguson (Sco) 69 66 69 65,
270 W Besseling (Ned) 69 71 67 63, R Saxton (Ned) 69 68 66 67, C Sharvin (Nir) 67 65 71 67,
271 R Kellett (Sco) 67 66 68 70,
272 V Østerby (Den) 65 71 70 66, J Caldwell (Nir) 68 66 71 67, R Enoch (Wal) 70 67 66 69,
273 L Van Meijel (Ned) 68 66 71 68, D Stewart (Sco) 68 68 69 68, D McElroy (Nir) 71 67 67 68,
274 D Huizing (Ned) 68 74 69 63, S Hutsby (Eng) 68 72 70 64, D Perrier (Fra) 69 71 65 69,
275 R Finch (Eng) 65 73 68 69, M Armitage (Eng) 65 72 70 68, C Del Moral (Esp) 70 68 65 72, J Huldahl (Den) 68 73 68 66,
276 J McDonald (Sco) 70 67 71 68, M McGeady (Irl) 71 68 67 70, J McLeary (Sco) 70 69 71 66, M Lampert (Ger) 70 70 70 66, J Girrbach (Sui) 72 70 66 68,
277 M Carlsson (Swe) 67 75 66 69, F Laporta (Ita) 70 66 71 70, E España (Fra) 67 70 70 70, A Knappe (Ger) 69 72 68 68, B Stow (Eng) 67 70 71 69,
278 M Schneider (Ger) 69 71 68 70, B Easton (RSA) 70 69 65 74, T Murray (Eng) 72 68 69 69, J Kunzenbacher (Ger) 74 67 67 70, I Cantero Gutierrez (Esp) 70 71 68 69, M Orrin (Eng) 68 74 69 67, C Braeunig (Ger) 68 72 69 69,
279 S Locke (Sco) 68 71 72 68, S Einhaus (Ger) 71 71 69 68, J Senior (Eng) 66 75 70 68, J White (Eng) 69 70 69 71, J Vecchi Fossa (Ita) 69 73 67 70,
280 R De Sousa (Sui) 73 68 66 73, R McGowan (Eng) 68 71 69 72, N Kearney (Irl) 72 70 70 68,
281 J Doherty (Sco) 71 71 69 70, R Roussel (Fra) 71 71 70 69,
282 C Tarren (Eng) 69 72 74 67, S Dyson (Eng) 72 69 69 72, M Galiano Aguilar (Esp) 70 71 70 71, C Selfridge (Nir) 72 69 68 73,
283 N Møller (Den) 71 71 69 72, A Velasco (Esp) 73 68 69 73, R Van West (Ned) 71 70 68 74, H Joannes (Bel) 70 71 68 74, C O’Rourke (Irl) 71 71 74 67,
284 B Hellgren (Swe) 73 69 72 70, L Ruuska (Fin) 71 69 73 71, N O’Briain (Irl) 71 70 74 69, M Gaspar (Por) 68 69 71 76, R Langasque (Fra) 69 73 74 68,
285 B Parker (Eng) 71 67 74 73, M Schmitt (Ger) 71 71 70 73, B Ritthammer (Ger) 71 70 71 73,
286 F Palson (Swe) 73 69 69 75,
289 K Phelan (Irl) 72 68 74 75,
290 J Brun (Fra) 68 73 74 75,
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