Double disappointment for two Scots in Italy

McARTHUR HEADING FOR TOUR
SCHOOL AFTER FAILING
TO MAKE TOP 20
IN CHALLENGE TOUR

FROM MICHAEL GIBBSON
European Challenge Tour Press Officer
(mgibbons@europeantour.com)

David Drysdale and Andrew McArthur brought their European Challenge Tour seasons to a disappointing close at the Apulia San Domenico Grand Final in Italy, where both Scots missed out on a place on the 2007 European Tour after finishing outside the tip 20 on the final Challenge Tour Rankings.
While Drysdale looked out of the running after the third round, McArthur, pictured above, had every chance to break into the all important top 20 during the final round at the San Domenico Golf on Italy’s south east coast.
The 26-year-old from Glasgow needed a top five finish in Italy and was sixth going into the last round, but a one-over-par 72 saw him drop down the leaderboard to finish in 16th place on five- under- par 279, one shot better off than Drysdale.
McArthur finished the season in 27th place on the Challenge Tour rankings and will now go to next month’s European Tour Final Qualifying School Final and secure a place on the No 1 Tour next season.
Drysdale, who ended his Challenge Tour season at 41st on the rankings, may or may not join McArthur in southern Spain in three weeks, depending on how results go at the Mallorca Classic this weekend.
The Dunbar professional is currently 114th on the European Tour Order of Merit but could miss out on his card if five players behind him manage to pass him by end end of play in the Majorcan tournament which is the last counting event of the European Tour season for those players at the lower end of the Order of Merit.
FINAL TOTALS
271 James Hepworth (Eng) 69 65 68 69.
273 Mark Pilkington (Wal) 67 68 71 67, Alexander Noren (Swe ) 69 65 75 64, Rafael Echenique (Arg ) 65 75 67 66.
274 Jean Hugo (SAf) 68 71 69 66, James Heath (Eng) 69 66 71 68.
275 Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa) 69 72 68 66, Lee S James (Eng ) 71 66 69 69, Shaun P Webster (Eng ) 67 70 68 70; Sam Walker (Eng ) 68 70 69 68, Ivó Giner (Spa ) 69 69 72 65.
276 Felipe Aguilar (Chi) 66 70 72 68.
277 Martin Kaymer (Ger) 71 67 72 67.
278 Marcus Higley (Eng) 69 69 69 71, Chris Gane (Eng) 73 72 68 65.
279 Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Den) 69 71 71 68, Alvaro Salto (Spa ) 72 68 70 69, Andrew McArthur (Sco) 69 69 69 72, Rafael Gomez (Arg ) 68 71 72 68.
280 Jesus Maria Arruti (Esp ) 69 71 72 68; David Drysdale (Sco) 70 70 72 68.
281 Hernan Rey (Arg ) 67 75 69 70; Alvaro Quiros (Esp ) 67 72 73 69.
282 Gareth Davies (Eng) 72 70 72 68.
283 Denny Lucas (Eng) 70 73 72 68, Juan Parron (Spa) 72 71 72 68.
284 Adrien Mörk (Fra) 73 68 71 72, Martin Maritz (SAf ) 71 74 71 68.
285 Anders Schmidt Hansen (Den ) 69 75 70 71, Nicolas Vanhootegem (Bel ) 71 69 74 71, Gary Lockerbie (Eng) 74 71 72 68.
286 Sebastian Fernandez (Arg ) 69 68 78 71, Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra ) 68 71 76 71.
287 Oskar Bergman (Swe ) 76 74 65 72, Johan Sköld (Swe) 73 74 68 72, Kyron Sullivan (Wal) 71 71 74 71, Johan Axgren (Swe ) 75 69 75 68;
288 Sion E Bebb (Wal ) 78 70 70 70;
289 Gustavo Rojas (Arg ) 70 72 74 73, Julien Foret (Fra) 70 73 78 68, Gareth Wright (Wal) 73 75 70 71.
291 Anthony Snobeck (Fra) 72 75 74 70.
293 Jan-Are Larsen (Nor) 72 72 73 76.
294 Tim Milford (Eng) 74 72 75 73.
295 Antonio Maldonado (Mex) 72 76 75 72.

TOP 20 FROM THE FINAL EUROPEAN
CHALLENGE TOUR RANKINGS
(Totals in Euros)
1 Mark Pilkington (Wal) 119,151.
2 Johan Axgren (Swe) 105,698.
3 Alexander Noren (Swe) 99,631.
4 Martin Kaymer (Ger) 93,320.
5 James Hepworth (Eng) 84,236.
6 Kyron Sullivan (Wal) 83,364.
7 Rafael Echenique (Arg) 82,737.
8 Juan Parron (Spa) 71,089.
9 Sam Walker (Eng) 69,853.
10 Marcus Higley (Eng) 67,851.
11 Shaun P Webster (Eng) 65,535.
12 Gary Lockerbie (Eng) 64,072.
13 Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa) 62,849.
14 James Heath (Eng) 60,346.
15 Gareth Davies (Eng) 60,189.
16 Lee S James (Eng) 59,704.
17 Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 59,342.
18 Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 57,278.
19 Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Den) 52,484.
20 Adrien Mörk (Fra) 52,136.