Brendan McGovern showed his undoubted class as a competitor and his when he clinched his European Senior Tour card in Portugal and immediately dedicated his success to the late Christy O’Connor Jnr

The 50-year old closed with a two over 73 at Pestana Golf Resort’s Vale da Pinta course to claim the third of five cards on level par 284 and insisted it was thoughts of the late Galway pro who kept him going.

Overjoyed at making his breakthrough onto the Senior Tour, McGovern said: “It feels pretty awesome. A lot of preparation went into this and to get over the line feels really good.

“To be honest with you I had one thought in my head all round and that was Christy O’Connor Jnr. I couldn’t make his funeral but I had a chat with him last September at a Pro-Am at Galway Bay and told him what I was doing.

“One man who would always give you a bit of a boost was Christy Jnr and he was in the back of my head – the drive for me today was ‘this is for Christy Jnr’ and I never lost focus. He was one of the great figures of Irish golf and this was for him.”

McGovern paid an eloquent tribute to O’Connor Jnr on a local radio podcast in January (fast forward to 59:46 for Brendan’s contribution)

England’s Gary Marks prevailed in windy conditions at the European Senior Tour Qualifying School Final Stage to win by one shot from America’s Barry Conser, whose one under par round of 70 was the best of the day as strong winds made for difficult scoring in the Algarve.

McGovern was comfortably inside the top five with one hole to go and while he bogeyed the par-four 18th, he avoided a two man playoff for the fifth and final spot by two shots.

Sweden’s Magnus P Atlevi also earned his card, finishing on level par alongside McGovern. But Canada's Ken Tarling had to beat Brad Smith in a play-off to seal the final spot.

The Canadian, winner of last year’s Senior Tour Q-School, had shot a four over par round of 75 but his English opponent Smith took four putts on the first additional hole, allowing Tarling to clinch fifth place with a bogey.

Marks was tied for second place in Portugal 12 months ago and the 52 year old was delighted to have regained his status as a Senior Tour Member.

“I’m surprisingly calm because that felt like a real ordeal,” he said. “I suppose I’m on a little bit of a rebound high. I thought I would be completely exhausted, and that’s probably going to come later, but right now there’s just joy at having achieved that.

“I was nervous today, you always are, because there’s nothing you can do. There isn’t a trick to it, you’ve just got to get over the ball, put a good swing on it, walk after it and hole putts if you get a birdie chance.

“It’s very nice to win. As I said, all five of us, if you’d told us last night we’d be the top five, no-one would have cared where they had come or about the prize money. You’re opening up a very exciting year whether you’re fifth or first. It’s nice to win though, and you don’t get that many meaningful wins – this is one of them.

“It was definitely a benefit to have experienced this before. I’ve been in the thick of it all three times I’ve come here to Q-School and it absolutely helps.

“I tried to keep an eye on things throughout. Initially there’s not too much revealing itself but I had a couple of bogeys and started looking at the board a bit more. You don’t want to get too caught up in that though.

“It wasn’t until the last three or four holes that I started to figure out I could afford four bogeys and still qualify, so I was just trying to avoid doing anything stupid and just make it home – and that’s what I managed to do.”

Conser, another to regain his Senior Tour card, was one of only two players to break par on a difficult final day.

For Atlevi there was redemption for last year when the Swede made a double bogey on the final hole to miss his card by one shot, but the 50 year old’s final round of 76 was good enough to take the fourth card.

Final scores

Detailed scores

282 G Marks (Eng) 69 68 72 73, QUALIFIED

283 B Conser (USA) 69 70 74 70, QUALIFIED

284 B McGovern (Irl) 67 74 70 73 QUALIFIED, M Atlevi (Swe) 68 66 74 76, QUALIFIED

286 K Tarling (Can) 71 71 69 75 QUALIFIED

Non-qualifiers

286 B Smith (am) (Eng) 72 74 68 72 (after playoff with Tarling), 

287 W Grant (Eng) 72 71 72 72, J Carter (USA) 72 68 70 77, M Bianco (Ita) 73 70 72 72, 

288 F Grosset-Grange (Fra) 76 71 71 70, 

289 M Wiggett (Eng) 70 70 73 76, J Buendia (Esp) 72 71 72 74, G Ryall (Eng) 72 71 74 72, B Cameron (Eng) 69 71 77 72, J Carriles (Esp) 75 72 70 72, N Sweet (Eng) 72 68 76 73, C Hunsucker (USA) 66 72 71 80, 

290 S Bennett (Eng) 72 71 74 73, D Westermark (Swe) 69 73 75 73, 

291 G Banister (Aus) 69 68 77 77, 

292 Y Nilsson (Swe) 70 69 77 76, C Swart (RSA) 70 72 74 76, K Hutton (Sco) 71 71 75 75, C Dennis (USA) 68 71 77 76, A Sherborne (Eng) 69 73 75 75, 

293 J Sallat (Fra) 75 72 72 74, J Murphy (Eng) 69 73 76 75, A Fernandez (Chi) 71 71 74 77, 

294 S McNally (Eng) 71 70 77 76, 

295 F Lamare (Fra) 72 74 70 79, 

297 J Romero (Esp) 73 76 70 78, 

298 M Wharton (Eng) 73 77 69 79, 

299 R Sabarros (Fra) 74 69 76 80, 

** G Wolstenholme (Eng) 73 74 72 RT