Murphy and Caldwell fail to take advantage

Gary Murphy and Jonny Caldwell failed to make the big move they needed to ease their card worries at Gleneagles.

As Peter Hedblom captured the Johnnie Walker Championships by a shot, Murphy closed with a 69 to finish tied 16th with Caldwell’s 73 relegating him to tied 31st.

Ranked 156th in the Race to Dubai starting the week, Murphy moved up just six places to 150th after earning a cheque for €21,861.

The top 115 at the end of the season retain their cards and as things stand, the Kilkenny man is €63,223 behind 115th ranked James Kingston.

Caldwell earned his biggest cheque of the season - €12,793 - but only moved from 280th to 246th in the money list and barring a sensational end to the season, he will be relying on the Q-School to regain his card.

Damien McGrane shot a final round 68 to climb to tied 14th and earn €24,290.  As a result the Kells man is now ranked 52nd in the Race to Dubai with earnings this year of €468,058.

Ireland has six players inside the top 60 who qualify for the season-climaxing Dubai World Championship in November.

Rory McIlroy is third on €1,678,227  with Padraig Harrington 17th (€840,256), Graeme McDowell 37th (€597,447), Peter Lawrie 41st (€543,929) and Gareth Maybin 56th (€448,658) following his 59th place finish at Gleneagles.