Positives for Irish despite lost weekend

Wonderful Getty Images picture of champion Brett Rumford (and his caddie) with the Volvo China Open volunteers. American Brooks Koepka won €25,600 as he romped to his second Challenge Tour title with a seven-shot victory in the Montecchia Golf Open presented by POLAROID.

But Rathmore’s Alan Dunbar can also be pretty pleased with his first tour cheque for the modest sum of €544 given the way he battled to make the cut in the weather-delayed second round on Saturday morning.

Closing rounds of 73 and 72 relegated the British Amateur champion to 56th of the 63 players who made the last two days.

But the 23 year old will be feeling a lot more confident about his ability to compete at the top level when he reappears on a sponsor’s invitation in the Nordea Masters in Stockholm at the end of the month.

The same appies to Lurgan’s Gareth Shaw, the touring professional for Galgorm Castle, despite falling from joint second at halfway to 46th after rounds of 72 and 76 at the weekend.

“Day to forget on the golf course today…” he tweeted. “27 putts for 5 over is not a sign of good ball striking/control…But plenty of +ve’s for the week.”

As for Simon Thornton, who finished 37th and 19 shots behind the winner, the Co Down resident was less than pleased with his week but hopeful of better things to come.

“Another very average week,” he tweeted. “Game’s nearly there though. Two weeks off already #gettingridoftherust”

On the European Tour, Brett Rumford became the first Australian to win back to back European Tour titles since Jack Newton 41 years ago thanks to a short game masterclass at the Volvo China Open.

The two wins were secured in contrasting fashion, as Rumford had to overcome a nailbiting play-off in Korea last week, but strolled to the title by four shots from Mikko Illonen at Binhai Lake in Tianjin.

The 35 year old was 138th in The Race to Dubai prior to his win last week, but now leads the way on €811,806, having won €775,406 in his past two tournaments.

“As with last week, I’m kind of speechless at the moment,” Rumford said.

Alas, Damien McGrane’s second round 66 proved to be a mirage as the magical putting touch he showed that day disappeared and he ended up tied for 29th on two under.

On the plus side, the Kells man moved up to 106th in the money list thanks to his cheque for €21,415.

On the Asian Tour, Austria’s Bernd Wiesberger won the CIMB Niaga Indonesian Masters by a shot from globetrotter Ernie Els (scores) with Darren Clarke taking 34 putts to finish well down the field in tied 56th after rounds of 70, 75, 74 and 72

Volvo China Open

272 B Rumford (Aus) 68 67 69 68,

276 M Ilonen  (Fin) 69 63 73 71,

277 V Dubuisson  (Fra) 71 72 66 68,

278 R Derksen (Ned) 66 70 73 69,

279 P Larrazábal (Esp) 71 66 69 73, R Santos  (Por) 70 72 68 69,

280 A Hartø  (Den) 72 71 70 67,

281 T Björn (Den) 70 73 68 70, P Casey  (Eng) 71 68 72 70, F Aguilar (Chi) 71 73 68 69, J Luiten (Ned) 73 67 68 73,

282 R Gonzalez (Arg) 73 71 67 71, K Aphibarnrat (Tha) 68 67 72 75,

283 L Slattery (Eng) 69 68 74 72, A Townsend (Aus) 69 70 74 70, J Singh (Ind) 72 69 73 69, P Lawrie (Sco) 69 72 70 72, A Sullivan (Eng) 74 68 72 69, G Havret  (Fra) 72 70 71 70, R Jacquelin (Fra) 68 72 75 68,

284 P Waring  (Eng) 72 68 73 71, E Grillo (Arg) 73 71 70 70, S Webster (Eng) 73 67 71 73,

285 P Sang-Hyun (Kor) 69 70 71 75, M Baldwin (Eng) 70 71 70 74, M Foster (Eng) 70 69 75 71, S Gallacher (Sco) 70 71 71 73, J Edfors (Swe) 73 69 73 70,

286 D McGrane (Irl) 73 66 73 74, R Ramsay  (Sco) 71 68 73 74, S Hansen (Den) 72 69 72 73, T Fleetwood  (Eng) 71 70 72 73,

287 M Brier (Aut) 71 71 73 72, B Grace  (RSA) 74 67 72 74, M Lampert (Ger) 72 72 71 72, D Ze-Cheng (Chn) 70 72 72 73, M Griffin (Aus) 70 68 76 73, G Storm  (Eng) 70 68 74 75, S Kjeldsen (Den) 72 68 74 73, A Byeong-Hun (Kor) 73 68 74 72,

288 A Noren  (Swe) 70 73 71 74, R Bland (Eng) 72 71 75 70, E Pepperell (Eng) 75 68 75 70, N Cullen (Aus) 72 69 78 69, E Molinari  (Ita) 75 68 73 72, E Goya (Arg) 70 74 74 70, K Broberg (Swe) 74 67 75 72, G Bhullar (Ind) 74 69 72 73,

289 A Dodt (Aus) 72 71 77 69, M Carlsson  (Swe) 71 73 72 73,

290 F Zanotti (Par) 71 69 77 73, P Meesawat  (Tha) 76 68 76 70, R Cabrera-Bello (Esp) 72 70 72 76, L Wen-Chong (Chn) 74 70 75 71,

291 J Hansen  (Den) 73 69 71 78, T Pilkadaris (Aus) 69 73 74 75, R Finch  (Eng) 71 70 75 75, M Hendry (Nzl) 74 67 75 75,

292 N Fasth (Swe) 73 68 78 73, G Sapp (USA) 70 74 74 74,

293 P Whiteford (Sco) 73 69 73 78, J Sjöholm (Swe) 74 65 76 78,

294 P Price (Wal) 76 68 73 77,

295 L Hyung-Joon (Kor) 70 70 75 80,

296 C Lloyd (Eng) 71 72 73 80,

304 S Jamieson  (Sco) 73 71 77 83,

305 H Wen-Yi (Chn) 74 69 80 82

Challenge Tour - Montecchia Golf Open presented by POLAROID

261 B Koepka  (USA) 66 67 62 66,

268 A Domingo (Esp) 68 68 64 68,

271 A Rota (Ita) 66 67 70 68,

273 S Manley (Wal) 70 68 68 67,

274 P Edberg (Swe) 68 70 66 70, J Guerrier  (Fra) 68 65 70 71,

275 S Benson (Eng) 71 64 70 70, G Boyd  (Eng) 68 68 70 69, J Moul  (Eng) 65 67 72 71, F Colombo (Ita) 68 70 66 71, R McGowan  (Eng) 69 69 68 69, P Oriol (Esp) 69 68 71 67, E Espana (Fra) 65 68 67 75,

276 N Quintarelli (Ita) 68 70 67 71, C Russo (Fra) 64 69 72 71, R Saxton (Ned) 70 67 68 71, N Elvira  (Esp) 70 67 69 70, E Johansen  (Nor) 68 69 68 71,

277 J Dantorp (Swe) 67 72 68 70, T Nørret (Den) 68 69 69 71, G Stal  (Fra) 69 70 71 67, D Dixon (Eng) 68 71 68 70,

278 A Romano (Ita) 71 68 70 69, A Levy (Fra) 66 69 69 74, S Little (Eng) 68 69 66 75, J Garcia Pinto (Esp) 69 70 69 70, J Lima  (Por) 70 67 73 68, L Bjerregaard  (Den) 65 72 68 73, O Bekker (RSA) 69 68 73 68, B Hebert  (Fra) 69 69 74 66,

279 D Brooks (Eng) 70 66 68 75, D Vancsik (Arg) 67 71 69 72, D Ulrich (Sui) 65 72 71 71, K Ferrie (Eng) 71 68 67 73, J Senior (Eng) 68 69 72 70, D Wuensche  (Ger) 68 70 71 70,

280 N Ravano (Ita) 71 67 66 76, J McLeary  (Sco) 69 69 70 72, V Riu  (Fra) 68 69 73 70, A Velasco (Esp) 67 69 70 74, J Lando Casanova  (Fra) 70 68 69 73, D Griffiths  (Eng) 69 67 71 73, S Hutsby  (Eng) 67 71 71 71, R McEvoy  (Eng) 71 68 70 71, S Thornton (Irl) 64 73 72 71,

281 T Haylock  (Eng) 66 71 70 74, C Macaulay  (Sco) 70 68 70 73, C Aguilar  (Esp) 66 73 68 74, F Calmels  (Fra) 68 71 71 71, G Shaw (Nir) 65 68 72 76, M Haastrup  (Den) 65 73 73 70, B Dredge (Wal) 69 69 72 71, R Paratore (am) (Ita) 70 67 70 74,

282 M Lorenzo-Vera  (Fra) 70 69 70 73, M Korhonen (Fin) 69 69 67 77,

283 M Crespi  (Ita) 68 71 70 74, S Arnold  (Aus) 67 70 68 78, A Dunbar (Nir) 69 69 73 72, J Ruth  (Eng) 70 66 73 74, S Tiley (Eng) 68 71 69 75,

285 T Hatton (Eng) 70 67 68 80,

287 P Dwyer (Eng) 69 69 68 81,

289 S O’Hara  (Sco) 71 68 74 76, S Piaget  (Mon) 69 70 72 78.