Kearney emerges from doldrums

Eduardo De la Riva won the Fred Olsen Challenge de España at Tecina Golf, La Gomera on the Canary Islands.Niall Kearney ended a run of five successive missed cuts and clinched his best finish as a professional when he closed with a five under 66 to share 11th behind Spaniard Eduardo de la Riva in the Fred Olsen Challenge de España.

The 24-year old Dubliner, who turned professional after the 2009 Walker Cup, made three birdies and an eagle in his first seven holes and then parred his way home to finish six shots behind De La Riva on 13 under and earn a career best cheque for €3,120.

The Royal Dublin man might only have moved up to 108th in the Challenge Tour rankings but he will gain confidence from his best finish since he finished 20th in the Kenya Open and 45th in the dual ranking St Omer Open last year.

De la Riva finished one stroke clear of Englishman Simon Wakefield  when he fired a flawless 65 at Tecina Golf in La Gomera to finish on 19 under and claim his maiden Challenge Tour victory in the €160,000 event.

Two shots further back were the trio of Scotland’s Scott Henry, Spain’s Luis Claverie and France’s Alexander Levy, while Englishman Charlie Ford had earlier shot a course record 61 – ten under par – a superb performance featuring 11 birdies and just the one bogey that propelled him 38 places up the leaderboard into a tie for sixth at 15 under par.

Overnight leader Daniel Vancsik joined Ford and Italian Domenico Geminiani in a share of six place after closing with a one over par 72.

Glasson’s Colm Moriarty had five birdies and four bogeys in a closing 70 to share 44th on six under, earning €784.

Fred Olsen Challenge de España at Tecina Golf, La Gomera, Canary Islands.

265 E De La Riva  (Esp) 68 63 69 65,

266 S Wakefield (Eng) 69 68 63 66,

268 S Henry  (Sco) 66 70 68 64, A Levy (Fra) 66 68 68 66, L Claverie (Esp) 66 65 71 66,

269 D Vancsik (Arg) 65 64 68 72, D Geminiani (Ita) 65 68 67 69, C Ford (Eng) 69 68 71 61,

270 S Garcia Rodriguez (Esp) 65 65 74 66, M Rominger  (Sui) 63 69 66 72,

271 NIALL KEARNEY (Irl) 71 65 69 66, J Abbott (Eng) 67 67 67 70,

272 G Dear (Sco) 67 71 67 67, D Brooks (Eng) 69 67 68 68, S Jeppesen  (Swe) 69 66 71 66, I Elvira  (Esp) 73 67 70 62, M Lorenzo-Vera  (Fra) 66 66 71 69, A Maestroni  (Ita) 71 68 64 69, S Garcia (Esp) 67 64 68 73, B Evans  (Eng) 71 69 67 65,

273 A Hortal  (Esp) 70 66 68 69, J Hansen  (Den) 66 67 72 68, M Tullo (Chi) 68 69 69 67, M Ford (Eng) 70 68 69 66, J Garcia Pinto (Esp) 67 70 68 68,

274 M Kieffer (Ger) 71 66 67 70, M Cryer (Eng) 69 66 70 69, J Legarrea (Esp) 66 67 69 72,

275 C Aguilar  (Esp) 68 67 72 68, F De Vries  (Ned) 69 66 69 71, J Grillon  (Fra) 69 70 69 67,

276 R Echenique (Arg) 67 69 69 71, R Quiros  (Esp) 70 70 68 68, E Kofstad (Nor) 70 69 68 69, W Ormsby (Aus) 71 66 66 73, C Brazillier  (Fra) 68 71 67 70, J Busby (Eng) 66 68 70 72, L Saltman (Sco) 71 68 69 68,

277 J Doherty  (Sco) 67 70 70 70, C Suneson (Esp) 70 67 72 68, S Tiley (Eng) 71 69 67 70, R Steiner (Aut) 68 71 69 69, M Glauert (Ger) 69 69 70 69,

278 P Oriol (Esp) 68 69 69 72, F Calmels  (Fra) 71 69 69 69, C Garcia Simarro (Esp) 69 71 71 67, J Gibb (Eng) 67 70 69 72, S Davis (Eng) 71 68 69 70, COLM MORIARTY (Irl) 69 71 68 70,

279 O Whiteley (Eng) 68 71 70 70, N Dougherty  (Eng) 68 70 67 74, F Delamontagne  (Fra) 73 65 70 71, J Bragulat  (Esp) 72 67 67 73, P Edberg (Swe) 69 69 68 73, S Walker (Eng) 71 67 71 70,

280 C Monasterio (Arg) 69 68 70 73,

281 F Ojeda  (Arg) 71 67 73 70, C Russo (Fra) 69 69 70 73, B An (Kor) 68 69 72 72, M Delpodio  (Ita) 68 69 73 71, A Rota (Ita) 71 65 71 74,

282 P Fendt (Aut) 69 68 70 75, A Perrino  (Ita) 71 69 68 74, S Benson (Eng) 74 65 74 69, T Whitehouse  (Eng) 70 68 72 72,

283 G Houston (Wal) 68 67 77 71,

286 S Piaget  (Mon) 74 66 75 71,

287 R Hjelm (Den) 71 69 75 72,

292 B Chapellan (Fra) 73 67 72 80