Damien McGrane signed off as a full-time European Tour player with his best round for eighth months in the Portugal Masters.

The 44-year old from Kells has made peace with the fact that the young guns have passed him by. But he went out on a high at the Oceanico Victoria Golf Course in Vilamoura, carding a five under par 66 in the final round to finish as the best of the Irish, tied 29th behind England’s Andy Sullivan on six under par.

A cheque for €18,100 brought McGrane’s season’s earnings to €107,605 from 30 starts, leaving him 161st and €139,884 outside the Top 110 in the Race to Dubai who have full playing privileges for 2016.

After a shotgun start, McGrane birdied his first two holes (the eighth and ninth) and then picked up further shots at the 12th and 14th.

He bogeyed the tough 18th but played his last seven in two under, picking up further shots at the second and fifth.

It was McGrane’s 397th European Tour appearance since 1997 -he's been full time since 2003 - and his 241st time finishing in the money, which amounts to €5,059,851 or an average of €12,745 per tournament.

His lone victory came in the 2008 Volvo China Open, where he cruised to a nine-shot win in horrific conditons but stripped off his waterproofs on the final hole to ensure maximum exposure for his sponsors.

Hugely admired by his collegeagues with Pádraig Harrington one of his biggest fans, his dry sense of humour will be sorely missed by everyone associated with the tour.

Congratulted by this reporter when he finished tied for sixth in the 2005 European Tour at the K Club to pick up a then career-best cheque for €83,206, he quipped: “Well, it’s better than a death I suppose.”

If McGrane made over €12,000 from each of his European Tour appearances as a pro, Paul Dunne is averaging three times that amount.

The Greystones star closed with a 70 in Vilamoura to share 68th on threee over par and add another €4,000 to his bank account.

He’s made €91,023 from three invitations since turning professional but must now head for the second stage of Q-School in Spain next month.

Dunne needed a Top 10 finish in Portugal to make the field for the final regular event of the season in Hong Kong next week.

But it now appears that there will only be three Irish in the UBS Hong Kong Open with Pádraig Harrington, who was tied 31st in Portugal after a 69, joined by Graeme McDowell and Kevin Phelan.

With Peter Lawrie unliley to get an invitation, he’s condemned to Q-School but Phelan still has one last chance to be fully exempt for 2016 if he can win more than €60,000 at Fanling.

The Mount Juliet professional, who was third in the event a year ago, likely needs another Top-5 finish there to make the Top 110 in the Race to Dubai.

As for Harrington, 120th in the Race to Dubai, he may need to be second at worst to quaify for the Turkish Airlines Open while a win would secure him a place in the Top 60 who will contest the final event of the playoff series, the DP World Tour Championship Dubai.

Phelan was 71st in Portugal, closing with a one over 72 to finish on five over par.

That was fully 28 shots behind Sullivan, who became the first man to win three European Tour events this season as he claimed a stunning wire-to-wire victory in the Algarve.

The Englishman came into the final round with a five shot lead but a round of 66 gave him a nine-shot margin of victory over playing partern Chris Wood on 23 under par.

Overnight rain and a threat of storms had led to the shotgun start being delayed by two hours at Oceånico Victoria Golf Club, in Vilamoura, but Sullivan was unfazed as he added to The South African Open Championship Hosted by the City of Ekurhuleni and the Joburg Open titles he won earlier in the year.

The 28-year old became the fifth wire-to-wire winner of the season, and smashed the record winning margin for the event which had been established by Alexander Levy, the winner by three shots last year.

The win moves Sullivan into the top 50 of the Official World Golf Ranking, and means he has three wins in 23 events after not claiming a victory in his first 84 appearances on The European Tour.

Wood finished in second place on 14 under par after a round of 68, whilst third place was shared between Eduardo de la Riva, Trevor Fisher Jnr and Anthony Wall.

Andy Sullivan

“It’s just absolutely incredible. To lead from day one right through the final day, it’s nothing I’ve ever experienced before so I wasn’t sure how I’d cope, but I think I did alright.

“It was a lot harder than I made it look. I knew I needed to keep going, keep pushing, and keep staying ahead. I felt like I never really got to relax until that second shot to the 18th, even though I knew I had a big lead. Golf’s a funny game, you just never know what can happen. 

“It feels incredible to share it with my family and friends as well, it’s been a great week and one I’ll cherish for the rest of my life.”

Chris Wood

“I didn’t play that great today, but even if I had I don’t think it would’ve made too much of a difference, because Andy played absolutely superbly. So hats off to him. I knew the game was probably up after five or six holes, because he wasn’t missing a shot.”

Final Round Scores

261 A Sullivan (Eng) 64 64 67 66, 

270 C Wood (Eng) 68 69 65 68,

271 E De La Riva (Esp) 65 67 68 71, A Wall (Eng) 69 64 72 66, T Fisher Jnr (RSA) 66 68 70 67, 

272 T Pieters (Bel) 65 66 72 69, J Campillo (Esp) 66 69 67 70, C Lee (Sco) 67 71 69 65,

273 E Espana (Fra) 70 67 69 67, L Bjerregaard (Den) 72 69 66 66, S Gallacher (Sco) 67 71 68 67, B Ritthammer (Ger) 69 66 73 65, R Rock (Eng) 70 67 70 66, M Korhonen (Fin) 69 69 69 66, G Mulroy (RSA) 69 67 70 67,

274 B Wiesberger (Aut) 68 64 72 70, D Drysdale (Sco) 65 71 69 69, 

275 A Quiros (Esp) 67 68 71 69, R Green (Aus) 68 70 73 64, H Otto (RSA) 70 65 69 71, N Colsaerts (Bel) 64 71 68 72, 

276 A Hansen (Den) 68 67 72 69, R Wattel (Fra) 67 71 73 65, T Fleetwood (Eng) 69 64 72 71, 

277 T Bjørn (Den) 67 67 70 73, R Bland (Eng) 71 70 72 64, P Maddy (Eng) 66 69 74 68, T Aiken (RSA) 65 70 72 70, 

278 J Kruger (RSA) 72 69 69 68, Damien McGrane (Irl) 67 72 73 66, 

279 Pádraig Harrington (Irl) 70 70 70 69, B Hebert (Fra) 75 64 69 71, J Van Zyl (RSA) 71 67 70 71, J Singh (Ind) 69 66 73 71, R Gouveia (Por) 71 68 72 68, D Fichardt (RSA) 68 70 74 67, 

280 S Kjeldsen (Den) 68 66 74 72, A Otaegui (Esp) 67 67 74 72, L Jensen (Den) 73 67 71 69, C Paisley (Eng) 67 67 76 70, C Doak (Sco) 69 69 70 72, M Warren (Sco) 71 68 75 66, J Walters (RSA) 71 68 72 69, 

281 G Storm (Eng) 68 70 73 70, G Bourdy (Fra) 70 69 74 68, A Cañizares (Esp) 70 69 76 66, A Johnston (Eng) 70 69 70 72, S Brown (Eng) 73 68 71 69, M Kieffer (Ger) 71 70 72 68, 

282 T Olesen (Den) 71 70 71 70, M Kaymer (Ger) 70 70 74 68, O Fisher (Eng) 69 69 72 72, 

283 S Jamieson (Sco) 67 68 75 73, J Carlsson (Swe) 66 73 75 69, R Cabrera-Bello (Esp) 68 68 75 72, B Evans (Eng) 73 68 75 67, 

284 D Brooks (Eng) 68 69 74 73, B Stow (Eng) 69 69 72 74, S Hutsby (Eng) 72 68 71 73, J Scrivener (Aus) 70 69 78 67, R Paratore (Ita) 70 71 75 68, R Gonzalez (Arg) 70 70 75 69, M Crespi (Ita) 68 73 77 66, 

285 K Broberg (Swe) 66 70 76 73, D Gaunt (Aus) 72 69 72 72, P Lawrie (Sco) 71 70 74 70, G Havret (Fra) 71 70 75 69,

287 Paul Dunne (Irl) 68 72 77 70, T Silva (am) (Por) 71 68 73 75, 

288 M Lundberg (Swe) 70 69 78 71,

289 Kevin Phelan (Irl) 70 71 76 72.