JAMIE McLEARY WINS DEBUT PLACE ON EUROPEAN TOUR 2014
REPORT FROM EUROPEAN TOUR COMMUNICATIONS
On
an afternoon where his golfing future balanced on a knife’s edge at the
Dubai Festival City Challenge Tour Grand Final hosted by Al Badia Gold
Club, Jamie McLeary stepped up and got the job done to earn a debut
season on The European
Tour in 2014.
The
Scot started the final day knowing that he needed to finish no worse
than a tie for second with one other player at the Dubai Festival City
Challenge Tour Grand Final hosted by Al Badia Golf Club if he were to
have a chance at making
the all-important top 15 in the Rankings, and he managed just that.
Four
birdies in his first 13 holes saw the Scot pull three clear of the
chasing pack at one point, and on his own in second, but a bogey at the
15th saw him slip back towards those behind before eventually finishing in a tie
alongside José-Felipe Lima.
No
one was quite sure how it had all played out at the last, as McLeary’s
Portuguese playing partner got up and down from the back bunker to tie
the Scot, who could only make par and post a three under par 69 to move
to 12 under.
But after
a few calculations it was confirmed he had jumped from 33rd to claim the 15th and final card.
In
doing so he becomes the fourth Team Scottish Hydro player to graduate
from the Rankings in the past three years – after Craig Lee (2011),
Chris Doak (2012) and Scott Henry (2012) – and he will now embark on a
debut season with European
golf’s elite after what was his eighth season on the Challenge Tour.
“I’m
delighted," explained the 32 year old Peterhead-born player from Edinburgh. "To finish the way I did was
nice, as I knew it was going to be a tough day and I kind of knew the
score I wanted to shoot and that’s what I was aiming for.
"The
guys I was playing with had already confirmed their European Tour cards
so when they started out like a train I knew I needed to finish second
or tied second. I was able to stay patient and I only made one bogey all
day, which was
on the 15th. But it was a hole I actually tried to bogey if that makes
sense – I was just trying to keep it from going in the water!
“Somebody
told me once I came off that Rhys Davies had also had a putt for eagle
at the last to tie for second, and I’d just assumed that no one would
make eagle, not sure why. I still thought I could make birdie by laying
up, but I didn’t
hit as good a pitch as I thought I had hit. When I looked up at the
board and saw only Lima could tie me, I was pretty confident he wouldn’t
hole his bunker shot.
“I
don’t think he (Lima) quite knew the situation, as he was apologising
when we came in, but I’m just glad I didn’t make six at the last. If I
had done that I would have been kicking myself, probably for the rest of
my life.
“I
started to worry that I would never make it to The European Tour, that I
was one of those guys that was really consistent but without the big
finishes at the big events that I needed. It has taken a lot longer than
I thought it would,
and the older you get the more nervous you get, but I’ve got my chance
now and I’m confident I’ll take it.”
McLeary
eventually finished four shots adrift of eventual winner Shiv Kapur,
who was the only other man to jump into the top 15, having come from 20th position at the start of the week to also earn a European Tour card.
The
Indian picked up his second win of the season and jumped to fourth on
the Challenge Tour Rankings, while Italy’s Andrea Pavan topped the pile
and will prepare to embark on a second season in Europe’s top tier.
Unfortunately, the men to lose out on the final day were England’s Sam Walker (16th) and America’s Daniel Im (17th), and they will now prepare for the Qualifying School Final Stage at PGA Catalunya Resort, which gets
under way next weekend.
FINAL TOTALS
Par 288 (4x72)
272 S Kapur (Ind) 69 66 67 70,
276 J McLeary (Sco) 68 70 69 69, J Lima (Por) 70 66 71 69
277 R Davies (Wal) 69 69 70 69, A Pavan (Ita) 66 66 75 70
278 S Manley (Wal) 73 67 68 70, E Dubois (Fra) 68 72 73 65, T Hatton (Eng) 69 67 74 68
279 N Elvira (Esp) 70 68 75 66, J Carlsson (Swe) 68 70 72 69
280 A McArthur (Sco) 70 69 68 73, W Besseling (Ned) 70 68 68 74, N Lemke (Swe) 70 73 69 68
281 A Gee (Eng) 73 69 70 69, J Guerrier (Fra) 69 69 71 72, B An (SKor) 74 71 70 66, B Paolini (USA) 66 77 67 71
282 L Bjerregaard (Den) 73 77 67 65
283
S Tiley (Eng) 73 65 73 72, B Ritthammer (Ger) 74 69 73 67, T Nørret
(Den) 71 69 69 74, O Wilson (Eng) 71 67 71 74, J Fahrbring (Swe) 73 71
71 68, J Garcia Pinto (Esp) 71 70 71 71, J Huldahl (Den) 73 72 66 72
284 J Elson (Eng) 72 71 68 73, D Stewart (Sco) 72 68 76 68, R Kakko (Fin) 73 71 71 69
285 S Walker (Eng) 77 68 72 68, S Kim (Kor) 73 69 74 69
287 J Dantorp (Swe) 70 73 76 68
288 M Crespi (Ita) 73 73 74 68
289 T Sluiter (Ned) 70 71 75 73, P Archer (Eng) 74 72 69 74, D Im (USA) 74 76 72 67
290 A Otaegui (Esp) 69 78 70 73, A Domingo (Esp) 77 74 70 69
291 R Dinwiddie (Eng) 76 72 69 74, D Huizing (Ned) 76 73 72 70
292 D Frittelli (RSA) 72 76 71 73
294 V Riu (Fra) 72 72 79 71
295 L Kennedy (Eng) 68 78 73 76
296 D Gaunt (Aus) 72 72 75 77
298 F Calmels (Fra) 72 78 75 73
EUROPEAN TOUR COMMUNICATIONS
Labels: CHALLENGE TOUR
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