Despite missing out on a DP World Tour card, Conor Purcell feels his first full season on the Challenge Tour was a year of progression and one where he felt like a proper touring professional.
Purcell plied his trade on the Alps Tour for much of 2022 and after impressing in his late season starts on the Challenge Tour, earned a full card for this year before advancing to Sunday’s Grand Final. Although he just missed out on earning promotion to the DP World Tour, he finished in the top-30 on the Road to Mallorca Rankings.
The Portmarnock man finished sixth in the Grand Final after rounds of 71, 72, 74 and 71 for his fourth top-10 of the campaign and he feels it was arguably his best week as he stuck around the upper echelons of the leaderboard for the duration of the tournament.
“I definitely see it as a year of progression, even today was my first time sticking around on a Sunday I felt, yeah, all year I have always had that one day that has put me out of the event whereas I was kind of part of it the whole week which was nice,” said Purcell who will head to the final stage of DP World Tour Q-School for a second bite at the cherry.
The 26-year-old needed a top-3 finish at the Grand Final in Club de Golf Alcanada and after a bogey on the second he had momentum heading into the back nine after birdies on the third and ninth. However, after a superb drive on the par-5 11th he clumsily three-putted for bogey and cried out ‘that’s so sloppy.’ That was the tone of the week and his Sunday as sloppy mistakes hindered any chances of making a charge up the leaderboard after picking up a shot on 13 but giving it back on 14. He did end the week on a high, rolling in a 40-footer on 16.
“I gave it a good run, it was nice to be in with a shout of getting a card,” added Purcell. “It seemed with the way things fell a lot of guys outside the top-20 did well so hats off to them but happy with how I played this week and battled to the end.
“It was tricky the course can flip you on your head and you can start snowballing. I managed to keep myself in check and played solid for the most part. A few things caught me out all week, hitting into the grain from the fairway and some weird ball flights off that but apart from that a birdie coming in on 16 was nice, a tough hole which was good.”
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