Portmarnock’s Conor Purcell banked some confidence and the biggest cheque of his fledgling professional career when he finished tied for third in the MENA Tour’s $75,000 NEWGIZA Open in Egypt.

The Dubliner went into the final round alone in fifth, three shots behind England’s Curtis Knipes, and closed with a three-under 69 to finish three strokes behind winner Sébastien Gros of France at NEWGIZA Golf Club in Cairo.

Scores

“It was a good week and I’m happy with how things went,” said Purcell, who picked up a cheque for $5,000 to move to seventh in the Journey to Jordan Order of Merit. “It was a great building block for next week (The Ghala Open in Oman).”

As Knipes shot a 73 to finish tied fifth on nine-under, Gros made five birdies in a bogey-free 67 to win by two strokes from England’s David Hague on 13-under par .

Headfort’s Rory McNamara ($790) made three birdies and three bogeys in a 72 to finish tied 24th on four-under.

But Purcell had no access to scoreboards and after getting to four-under for the day and 10-under for the tournament with two holes to go, he bogeyed the par-five 17th and parred the last to finish a shot behind clubhouse leader Hague on 10-under.

“I actually had no idea what was going on,” he said. “I knew 11-under was posted and I made a sloppy bogey on 17 to fall back to 10 so when I walked off 18 I just presumed all the guys in the last groups were still going to be ahead of me. To finish third was a boost.”

If he wins in Oman next week, he will earn an exemption for the European Tour’s Oman Open and remain in the Middle East. If not, he will travel home and return for a run of events in March.