Gavin Moynihan’s clubs were only loaded into the European Tour’s trailer following his tied 16th finish at the Made in Denmark when the Dubliner was already eyeing up a mouth-watering schedule over the coming weeks.
The Mount Juliet pro cut a beaming figure having battled to make the cut after a day one 74 at Himmerland before finishing like a train with a five-under par 66 to grab his best finish since tying 12th at Oman in March.
“I’m delighted,” said Moynihan, who had at least €41,400 reasons to smile post round – almost double what he won in Muscat.
“It’s a round that’s been coming for quite a while and I was really happy to move up the board. I’m looking forward to the rest of the year now and we’ll see if we can improve on that finish.”
The result may well prove a real turning point for the Mount Juliet professional, who has a lengthy list of exciting starts upcoming over a busy summer period.
“I’ll hopefully be playing most tournaments from now until October so we’ll see how we go.
“This week was a slightly bigger money event than we’ve had the last few weeks. I’ve the Irish Open coming up obviously. Valderrama as well – I did well there last year. The GolfSixes with Paul. There’s a few venues that I’m really looking forward to.”
This week, Moynihan’s travelled to Rinkven International Golf Club where the full field plays two days of strokeplay before a cut to 64 players, with separate playoffs to get each half of the draw down to 32 if necessary.
The remaining players will be seeded based on their performance on Thursday and Friday and then face off over nine holes of strokeplay knockout, with the player with the lowest score after nine holes advancing.
The first three rounds of knockout action will cut the field from 64 to eight on Saturday, with the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final taking place on Sunday to decide who will join Adrian Otaegui as a Belgian Knockout champion. Moynihan, like most Irish golfers, has a strong matchplay pedigree and although the format is strokes, the one-on-one competition – particularly given his success alongside Paul Dunne at the GolfSixes last summer – should play into Moynihan’s wheelhouse.
“The game is slowly getting there,” added Moynihan. “I’m looking forward to this week. It’s a tight, old school golf course – or so a lot of the boys have said so it should be fun.”
Moynihan will be joined in the field by Michael Hoey who enjoyed a strong finish of his own in Denmark. Hoey made the wrong moves on Saturday with a 74 but bounced back with a clutch four-under par 67 that saw him grab a share of 41st and a cheque worth € 17,400 that keeps his 2019 momentum going.
Both Moynihan and Hoey are paired together for the first two days. They get underway alongside Matthew Nixon on Thursday at 11.35am Irish Time.
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