WELSHMAN OLIVER FARR WINS EUROPRO TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP

PGA EUROPRO TOUR REPORT
FROM NICK TEALE
Welshman Oliver Farr won the 888poker.com PGA EuroPro Tour Championship, and with it the 2013 season Order of Merit, after finishing 13 under par for his 54 holes at Prince’s Golf Club.

Daniel Gavins was one behind in second place, which also confirmed his position as runner-up on the tour rankings. Paul Reed and James Watts finished the tournament tied for third on ten under par.

The top five on the Order of Merit are awarded Challenge Tour cards for 2014. George Woolgar, who was guaranteed a top-five finish before Tour Championship, came third with Dave Coupland and Paul McKechnie also progressing to Europe’s second-tier Tour.

Farr (Worcester Golf and Country Club) shot a final-round 67, five under, to beat overnight leader Gavins (De Vere Oulton Hall) by one and in doing so also claimed the Order of Merit title.

“The last two days I have really controlled the ball well and put some great scores in,” said Farr. “It was nice to do that under a lot of pressure. I wasn’t quite sure of my Challenge Tour card for next year but it is brilliant to get it.

“The Challenge Tour card only really occurred to me on the 18^th. I was focussing on the last round. I came here this week to just play this tournament as it is and I did that. It only really came into my mind on the 18^th tee, then I thought I could win the Order of Merit.

“Playing on the Challenge Tour is something to really, really look forward to. I have played some Challenge Tour events this year and I feel comfortable on there. There is a little step up but I will prepare myself and get some good practice in over the winter to get ready for next year.”

The Welshman led for much of the back nine after shooting five birdies on the first 11 holes. A birdie for Gavins on the last left Farr with a short but nervy putt for victory, which he calmly made to collect a winner’s cheque of £15,000 and a brand new Motocaddy S3 Pro.

Richard Wallis finished sixth on the 888poker.com PGA EuroPro Tour Order of Merit, missing out on the top five by tjust £69.17. However, if any of the top five earn a Challenge or European Tour card via the European Tour Qualifying School, he will receive their satellite tour graduate category.

Marcus Armitage collected the Rookie Of The Year trophy after finishing ninth on the Order of Merit.
Top Scot in the Tour Championship was Paul McKechnie (Braid Hills) in joint 12th place on 210 with rounds of 79, 71 and 70. He earned £685.
Paul Doherty (Vale Hotel) also made th top 20 with scores of 69, 71 and 71 for 211 and a share of 18th place for which he received £453.

A two-hour highlights package from Tour Championship will be broadcast at 8pm on Tuesday, October 29 on Sky Sports 2 HD, repeated four times the following day.

The Tour Championships concludes the 2013 888poker.com PGA EuroPro Tour season. Details of the 2014 Qualifying School will be available at www.europrotour.com in December.

LEADING FINAL TOTALS AND PRIZE MONEY
Par 216 (3x72)
203 Oliver Farr (Wal) 71 65 67 (£15,000)
204 Daniel Gavins (Eng) 70 65 69 (£8,000)
206 Paul Reed (Eng) 70 70 66, James Watts (Eng) 69 70 67 (£4,825 each)
207 Richard Wallis (Eng) 71 70 66, Simon Lilly (Eng) 67 70 70 (£2,500 each).
SCOTS'  TOTALS
210 Paul McKechnie (Braid Hills) 69 71 70 (T12) (£685)
211 Paul Doherty (Vale Hotel) 69 71 71 (T18) (£453)
212 Shaun McAllister (Craigielaw) 67 74 71, Paul Shields (Kirkhill) 68 71 73 (£390 each)
215 Zack Saltman (Archerfield Links) 67 72 76 (T33) (£295)
217 Elliot Saltman (Archerfield Links) 72 72 73 (T42) (£242).