EUROPEAN CHALLENGE TOUR

DAVID DRYSDALE TOP SCOT BUT

16 UNDER PAR GETS ONLY 15th

David Drysdale was the top Scot in the latest European Challenge Tour event – the MAN NO Open at Adamstal Golf Club in Austria.

Drysdale shot 65, 68, 70 and 69 for a 16-under-par tally of 272 and joint 15^th place  – but so hot is the standard of scoring on Europe’s No 2 tour that David finished some eight shots behind the first-time winner, Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spain).

Rafael Cabrera, as he was know then, was a leading Spanish amateur until he turned professional last December. His winner’s cheque for 20,800 Euros lifts the 22-year-old Spaniard from 51^st in the Challenge Tour rankings to 10^th, which means he is well placed to gain one of the European Tour Cards automatically awarded to the top 15 at the end of the season.

Cabrera Bello, the leader from start to finish, was four shots clear of the field with one round to go, but he made a horrendous start to the final day when he drove out of bounds and ran up a double bogey.

He settled to birdied the third and fifth and gained two more birdies coming home for a 69 and 264, winning by two shots from the home favourite, Niki Zitny.

Aberdeen’s Greig Hutcheon totaled 274 – two ahead of Murray Urquhart (Inverness) with  Windyhill’s Andrew McArthur (278), Graeme Brown (283) from Montrose and former Glencorse member David Inglis (289) the other Scots who made the halfway cut.

 

LEADING FINAL TOTALS

264 Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa ) 61 68 66 69.
266 Niki Zitny (Aut ) 69 66 64 67.
267 Johan Sköld (Swe ) 67 68 65 67, Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Den ) 71 66 63 67.
269 Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe ) 66 70 67 66, Mikko Korhonen (Fin ) 70 69 65 65.
270 Toni Karjalainen (Fin ) 70 67 65 68, Shaun P Webster  (Eng ) 69 68 65 68, Marcus Higley (Eng ) 68 73 64 65
271 Oliver Whiteley (Eng ) 67 69 66 69, Jamie Elson (Eng ) 63 69 69 70, Martin Maritz (SAf) 71 66 68 66, Jesus Maria Arruti    (Esp ) 70 66 65 70, Nicolas Vanhootegem    (Bel ) 67 68 68 68
272 Inder Van Weerelt (Net ) 67 69 67 69, Tim Milford (Eng ) 68 67 65 72, David Drysdale (Sco ) 65 68 70 69, Simon Lilly (Eng ) 66 70 68 68.

Other Scots’ totals:
274 Greig Hutcheon 73 66 64 71.
276 Murray Urquhart  69 70 68 69.
278 Andrew Mcarthur 69 70 65 74.
283 Graeme R Brown 66 75 70 72.
289 David Inglis 72 69 75 73.



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