Crucial top four finishes for Moynihan and Sharvin
Sween's Jens Dantorp following his playoff win in the Ras Al Khaimah 2017 Golf Challenge at Al Hamra GC in Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates. Picture: Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority
They may wonder what might have been but Mount Juliet's Gavin Moynihan and Ardglass' Cormac Sharvin still had 14,757 reasons to be cheerful after they finished tied for fourth in the Ras Al Khaimah 2017 Golf Challenge in the UAE.
The former Walker Cup teammates finished just two strokes outside a playoff for the title that saw Sweden's Jens Dantorp spectacularly eagle the first extra hole to deny Poland's Adrian Meronk and move to 13th in the Road to Oman rankings with the top 15 after next week's €420,000 NBO Golf Classic Grand Final earning European Tour cards.
Moynihan is just €5,787 outside the top 15 having moved up from 26th to 18th in the Road to Oman standings with 76,832 from 17 starts, leaving him needing another top performance in Oman to secure his European Tour card.
He must finish solo 17th at worst just to make up the €5,787 that separate him from 15th ranked Sebastian Heisle of Germany.
But the reality is that with last place in Oman worth €2,570, Moynihan knows that he will likely need to finish in the top eight to break through the estimated 90,000 point barrier and earn his European Tour card.
The Dubliner birdied the last to add a 69 to rounds of 69, 69 and 68 to finish at 13-under par. And while he will rue back-to-back bogeys at the 15th and 16th that scuppered his chance of a maiden win, his fate is still in his own hands heading to Muscat for the season-ending Grand Final.
Sharvin made 19 birdies in rounds of 70, 68, 69 and 68 to share fourth with Moynihan and Belgian Christopher Mivis, clinching a career-best Challenge Tour finish that crucially moved the 25-year old from 99th to 69th in the Rankings, securing Category 10 membership next year after a season that brought just two top-20 finishes before this week.
Michael Hoey closed a discreet campaign with a 68 to finish tied 19th in Ras Al Khaimah, moving from 70th to 69th in the Rankings as Ruaidhri McGee remained 81st as he shot 72 to share 59th on one-under.
As for the tournament winner, Dantorp lipped out for an eagle from inside 20 feet that would have won the title at Al Hamra Golf Club's par-five 18th, tapping in for a birdie to take the tournament to extra holes.
But he made no mistake at the second time of asking, hitting his approach to six feet on the par five 18th hole — "one of the best shots of my career" — before rolling in the putt to better his opponent’s birdie.
WINNER!
— Challenge Tour (@Challenge_Tour) October 28, 2017
An eagle on the first play-off hole and @DantorpJens is the #RAKGolfChallenge champion! pic.twitter.com/kO7OF0dAZR
The result could not have been more timely as it secured Dantorp his place in next week’s NBO Golf Classic Grand Final – only the top 45 in the Road to Oman Rankings will contest the Muscat shootout and the 28-year-old climbed 35 places to 13th place with this win.
The top 15 in the Rankings in one week’s time will earn European Tour cards and for Dantorp, this would mean joining Henrik Stenson, the man he credited with inspiring his victory-sealing approach, in the Race to Dubai
“It’s one of the best shots of my career,” he said. “I just had one shot in mind walking up 18: Henrik Stenson’s in Dubai on 18 a couple of years ago. I tried to repeat that, and I was close the first time. The second time I pulled it off though.
“It feels great to win. It’s been a couple of years since my last win so I was really chasing another one and today was the day, so it feels great.
“I don’t know what it is about the Middle East that brings out my best golf. I enjoy it when it’s warm, I like the grass around here and I’m just comfortable around these courses.
“My plan was to break the course record, but that didn’t work out! I wanted to hit as many greens as possible and hope that my putter would be warm and it was enough.
“I saw on 17 that Adrian was 15 under and I expected that he would have birdied the last, so I was going for an eagle to try to get in a playoff.
“I got to the green and saw he had finished on 15 under so I had a putt for the win. Unfortunately, it lipped out, but I managed to roll in the eagle on the play-off instead.
“I’m just going to keep going next week in Oman. Hopefully I’ll play well there again – I love the place over there, and I’m looking forward to another great week, and hopefully, I can do enough to get a European Tour card.”
Meronk had led for much of the day, the young Pole not dropping a shot all round as he set the clubhouse target at 15 under par with a closing round of 67.
Dantorp, however, was three groups behind him and, after birdieing 14 to close the gap to one, narrowly missed his eagle on the last hole, settling for a similarly bogey-free 68 to reach 15-under-par as well.
Meronk can console himself with a spot in the Grand Final field – knowing only a top-two finish would suffice to move up enough from 79th, he will close a memorable rookie season on the Challenge Tour with a chance to gain European Tour status next week.
Clément Sordet, playing alongside Meronk, took third place on 14 under par – a result that moves the Frenchman inside the top 15 of the Rankings – with Christopher Mivis, Moynihan and Sharvin one shot further back in a share of fourth.
Overnight leader Chase Koepka dropped shots early and never recovered, his one-shot lead evaporating and his closing round of 74 leaving him in a share of 15th place.
Ras Al Khaimah 2017 Golf Challenge, Al Hamra GC (Par 72), Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates
273 J Dantorp (Swe) 71 69 65 68, A Meronk (Pol) 70 66 70 67,
274 C Sordet (Fra) 68 69 69 68,
275 Gavin Moynihan (Irl) 69 69 68 69, C Mivis (Bel) 71 65 69 70, Cormac Sharvin (Nir) 70 68 69 68,
276 M Schneider (Ger) 73 64 71 68, J Hansen (Den) 71 68 69 68, S Brown (Eng) 67 74 67 68, M Orrin (Eng) 68 70 68 70, V Perez (Fra) 67 71 71 67,
277 R Evans (Eng) 71 69 70 67, J Winther (Den) 69 67 71 70, A Saddier (Fra) 71 65 73 68,
278 N Cullen (Aus) 71 73 65 69, C Koepka (USA) 66 68 70 74,
279 J Van Der Vaart (Ned) 64 70 74 71, E Van Rooyen (RSA) 73 66 73 67,
280 D Law (Sco) 69 73 72 66, M Kinhult (Swe) 73 71 66 70, M Wiegele (Aut) 71 69 72 68, J Guerrier (Fra) 68 67 74 71, S Fernandez (Esp) 69 73 67 71, Michael Hoey (Nir) 72 71 69 68, J Senior (Eng) 72 68 69 71, T Linard (Fra) 71 70 66 73, A Pavan (Ita) 71 69 71 69,
281 G Forrest (Sco) 73 69 70 69, N Johansson (Swe) 71 72 72 66, G Porteous (Eng) 68 70 68 75, M Lafeber (Ned) 72 68 67 74, P Widegren (Swe) 71 69 70 71,
282 J Sarasti (Esp) 69 67 73 73, D Huizing (Ned) 70 71 72 69, S Heisele (Ger) 68 75 69 70, C Braeunig (Ger) 75 69 69 69, K Samooja (Fin) 69 71 72 70, E Goya (Arg) 71 72 69 70, M Schwab (Aut) 69 72 71 70, R Davies (Wal) 71 71 71 69, P Oriol (Esp) 69 71 72 70,
283 G Boyd (Eng) 69 69 71 74, M Lampert (Ger) 69 75 69 70, J Girrbach (Sui) 70 68 73 72, M Baldwin (Eng) 69 69 75 70, R Enoch (Wal) 75 68 71 69, T Pulkkanen (Fin) 75 67 72 69, C Ford (Eng) 71 69 70 73,
284 S Tiley (Eng) 67 77 69 71, O Farr (Wal) 74 70 67 73, O Stark (Swe) 66 70 78 70, N Von Dellingshausen (Ger) 70 73 71 70,
285 M Trappel (Aut) 74 70 71 70, B Hellgren (Swe) 72 71 70 72, M Perry (Nzl) 70 70 73 72, A Tadini (Ita) 69 72 72 72, C Blomstrand (Swe) 70 74 66 75,
286 R Saxton (Ned) 72 68 70 76,
287 Ruaidhri McGee (Irl) 73 70 72 72,
288 S Einhaus (Ger) 68 71 75 74,
289 O Wilson (Eng) 70 73 74 72, T Tree (Eng) 69 69 77 74, F Laporta (Ita) 72 71 70 76,
290 P Howard (Eng) 72 70 75 73, M Madsen (Den) 73 69 78 70,
295 B Virto (Esp) 69 74 76 76
