Max Kennedy was pleased to see the rewards for some short game tweaks as he registered his second runner-up finish on the HotelPlanner Tour at the NTT Data Pro-Am.
Kennedy closed with a bogey-free 69 which was initially good enough for a top-5 place but some late dropped shots from those ahead of him bumped him into a four-way share of second place on twelve-under-par, four shots behind eventual winner MJ Daffue at Fancourt Golf Estate.
“I’m very happy, a good result this week. Worked on a couple of things last week that paid off so very happy with that,” said Kennedy who equals his highest finish on the HotelPlanner Tour and will receive a significant rankings boost from his starting position of 54th.
Kennedy began the round four shots off the pace and while not much happened for him on the greens he managed to keep the mistakes off his card and supplemented that with three birdies on the 7th, 11th and 18th as he went bogey-free for 22 holes in tricky conditions.
“Just kept the foot down, stayed aggressive while not getting too impatient on the greens I stayed aggressive tee to green and it paid off with a nice birdie on the last with that sort of mindset so I was quite happy with the finish and how I played today.
“My goal in tournaments is to have as little bogeys as I possibly can and going into this week that was no different and I did a really good job of that.”
The Royal Dublin golfer was particularly pleased to finish so high on the leaderboard despite not having his best game throughout the week and he is encouraged by that going forward.
“Really happy, I didn’t do a whole lot well this week but I didn’t do anything wrong so if I keep with that approach for the rest of the year it will be a good year and I am looking forward to it.
“Same thing next week keep the foot down and make sure the short game is good.”
It was a strong week for the Irish overall with Gary Hurley and Liam Nolan sharing 27th place on seven-under after rounds of 73 and 71 respectively while Conor Purcell was six-under after a closing 72.
Tuesday qualifier Rowan Lester ended his week with a 74 for a two-under total and a share of 55th place.
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