Alps Tour David Carey notched his best finish for eight months when he closed with a 68 to finish tied 12th in the Abruzzo Open in Italy.

The 20-year old’s three under closing round featured two eagles in his first six holes — a three at the first and a two at the 389 yard sixth at Miglianico Golf & Country Club to get within two of the lead.

But he couldn’t keep up the red-hot pace and played the remainder in one over par to end up five shots behind eventual winner Stefano Pitoni of Italy, who eagled the 18th to win by one with a 64, on 10 under par.

Scores

It was still a decent performance for Carey, who had two top 10 finishes in his first three starts of the season but then missed eight of the next 11 cuts before this week’s performance.

His cheque for €897 took him to 36th  in the Order of Merit with earnings of €6,740.20 from 15 starts heading into the week’s Grand Final.

The €65,000 event will also be played at the Miglianico Golf & Country Club on the Adriatic coast.

Ireland will have two men in the field with Carey joined by Tommy O’Driscoll from Golf Clément Ader, just outside Paris.