DUNCAN STEWART CLINCHES RUNNER-UP FINIZH IN KAZAKHSTAN

REPORT FROM EUROPEAN TOUR COMMUNICATIONS

Duncan Stewart claimed the best finish of his European Challenge Tour career at the lucrative Kazakhstan Open, despite a bogey at the final hole which meant he had to share second place with two others, seven back from runaway winner Johan Carlsson of Sweden.

The result elevated Stewart from 40^th position in the Challenge Tour Rankings to 14^th and inside the cut-line for a European Tour card while also securing his place in the final three events of the season in China, Oman and Dubai.

Stewart was just off the green at the 18^th and, needing a par to finish on 12 under in outright second, his disappointing chip fell 12 feet short before he rolled the resultant putt to the left of the cup to settle for a level par 72 and an aggregate total of 11 under par.

While the over-riding emotion in the wake of the finale at Nurtau Golf Club was disappointment, the Grantown-on-Spey man knows that it was a huge result and the €32,000 (£26,742.44) could go a long way in securing a rapid rise to the top tier of European golf in his rookie season on the Challenge Tour.

“I can’t complain with the result but when you’re on the fairway at the last you can’t be making bogey,” said the 29 year old. “I didn’t actually play that bad. I had two stupid holes but to be honest I wouldn’t go back and change any shots that I hit.

“At the end of the day we were always playing for second but I had a chance to get it by myself going down the last. You have to take those opportunities when they’re there.

“If somebody said to me at the start of the week I had to take tied second, of course I would, but I lost a lot of money on the last, which would almost have been enough to guarantee my European Tour card. Now it’s down to the last three events so we’ll see what happens.”

Stewart shared second place with England’s Tyrrell Hatton and Spaniard Adrian Otaegui on 11 under par as Carlsson, another rookie on the tour this year, virtually sealed his path to The European Tour with a record winning margin for the event, finishing with a five under par 67 and an 18 under par total.

FINAL TOTALS

Par 288 (4x72)

270 J Carlsson (Swe) 69 67 67 67,

277 T Hatton (Eng) 68 72 65 72, A Otaegui  (Esp) 67 70 69 71, D Stewart (Sco) 70 70 65 72,

278 O Wilson (Eng) 70 66 75 67, R Dinwiddie  (Eng) 71 68 70 69,

279 R Kakko  (Fin) 72 71 70 66, A Pavan (Ita) 70 71 69 69,

280 S Kim (Kor) 69 69 75 67, F Praegant (Aut) 71 69 69 71, N Elvira  (Esp) 69 73 68 70, N Lemke (Swe) 73 68 72 67, J Huldahl (Den) 63 72 73 72,

281 S Kapur (Ind) 71 71 69 70, P Oriol (Esp) 71 71 74 65, C Kim (USA) 65 74 73 69,

282 C Del Moral (Esp) 71 71 72 68, A Rota (Ita) 74 70 70 68, D Brooks (Eng) 71 69 73 69,

283 S Arnold  (Aus) 67 67 74 75, P Maddy (Eng) 69 69 71 74, B Ritthammer (Ger) 69 70 74 70, V Riu  (Fra) 73 64 73 73, C Ford (Eng) 72 70 72 69,

284 M Brier (Aut) 70 73 71 70, B An (Kor) 70 68 73 73,

285 R Steiner (Aut) 69 69 75 72, T Sluiter  (Ned) 66 79 71 69, L Bjerregaard  (Den) 72 70 71 72, L Kennedy  (Eng) 69 71 75 70, D Gaunt (Aus) 69 70 77 69,

286 D Huizing (Ned) 73 69 73 71, J Garcia Pinto (Esp) 72 71 72 71, C Hanson (Eng) 71 73 71 71, L Claverie (Esp) 70 67 75 74, S Tiley (Eng) 74 65 71 76, J Barnes (Eng) 71 74 71 70,

287 F Calmels  (Fra) 73 70 73 71, R McGowan  (Eng) 73 69 76 69, J Heath  (Eng) 75 70 74 68, A Gee  (Eng) 68 75 70 74, J Fahrbring (Swe) 68 73 69 77, J Elson  (Eng) 74 68 71 74, A Velasco (Esp) 69 74 70 74, A Johnston (Eng) 70 74 71 72,

288 H Porteous (RSA) 76 67 73 72, B Stone (RSA) 69 72 74 73, J Guerrier  (Fra) 71 70 72 75, F Bergamaschi (Ita) 72 71 69 76, G Cambis  (Fra) 69 71 75 73,

289 W Booth  (Sco) 71 72 72 74, T Pilkadaris (Aus) 70 71 71 77, E Dubois (Fra) 73 71 72 73, A Bernadet  (Fra) 70 73 74 72, R Davies (Wal) 73 72 73 71, G Stal  (Fra) 70 74 68 77, M Ford (Eng) 70 75 71 73,

290 P Edberg (Swe) 71 74 74 71, D Im (USA) 70 73 73 74,

291 P Archer (Eng) 71 70 76 74, C Brazillier  (Fra) 73 72 73 73, A McArthur  (Sco) 74 71 74 72, M Haastrup  (Den) 74 71 74 72,

292 J McLeary  (Sco) 73 72 73 74, S Hutsby  (Eng) 72 72 76 72,

294 J Senior (Eng) 73 72 75 74, P Widegren  (Swe) 69 70 80 75,

295 D Kemmer (USA) 70 73 76 76,

297 G Houston (Wal) 72 72 76 77, N Ravano (Ita) 72 73 78 74,

298 J Lando Casanova  (Fra) 70 75 76 77,

301 P Figueiredo  (Por) 70 75 78 78,

303 C Aguilar  (Esp) 71 72 78 82,

 

 

EUROPEAN TOUR COMMUNICATIONS