Challenge Tour joy for Murphy, but it's agony for McElroy
Dermot McElroy after his hole in one.
Kinsale's John Murphy clinched his Challenge Tour card without hitting a shot, but Ballymena's Dermot McElroy missed out on his despite making an ace in a closing 65 in the Europro Tour's Matchroom Tour Championship at Slaley Hall.
Murphy missed the cut in the Challenge Costa Brava but remained in the top 70 in the Road to Mallorca standings, claiming 69th spot and a strong Challenge Tour card for 2022.
Michael Hoey finished 29th behind New Zealander Daniel Hillier at Empordà Golf after a closing 68 to lie 36th in the rankings and make the top 45 who qualify for next month's Grand Final after which the top 20 in the standings will get European Tour cards.
McElroy was looking to remain in the top five in the third-tier Europro Tour rankings who secured promotion to the Challenge Tour but instead fell two spots to seventh after his tie for 24th in the season-ending Tour Championship.
The former West of Ireland winner paid for opening rounds of 76 and 78, and while he holed a six-iron from 186 yards for hole-in-one in at the fifth in a bogey-free, seven-under 65, he wins only a minor category of membership of the Challenge Tour next year which he reckons will only be worth “one or two starts” due to the pressure on places caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
"The Challenge Tour is going to be very strong next year, so I may get one or two starts which is not really any use," said McElroy, whose tie for fourth in the Challenge Tour's Irish Challenge at Portmarnock Links in May did not count in the Rankings he did not expect to play the Challenge Tour this year and therefore didn't pay the €280 fee to join the tour.
It hasn’t been Dermot McElroy’s week but he’s aced the 5th! 🔥
— PGA EuroPro Tour (@PGAEuroProTour) October 22, 2021
He picks up an Apple TV 4K and Apple Watch courtesy of Academia 🤩@SlaleyHall pic.twitter.com/4WX9yRpMkb
"To be fair, it's been a very positive year. I played very well at Galgorm Castle in the ISPS HANDA World Invitational [T19],and obviously, I had a very good chance to win in the Irish Challenge and then I won on the Europro Tour, so I take a lot of positives from the season. Hopefully, wherever I am playing next season, I can continue to play well.
"I'm delighted to see John Murphy doing so well. I haven't seen him for about six or seven years when he was only a small little guy. He's a big lad and a very impressive golfer now.”
McElroy was disappointed to finish down the field at Slaley Hall and he blamed a cold putter for his troubles in the first two rounds.
“I felt I played OK for the first two rounds but I just had a very very cold putter and it was very windy, gusting to 30mph,” the 28-year old said. “My putting was terrible in the first two rounds and I had a lot of three-putts which was not ideal. Today I just holed out very well. I didn’t hole many putts but I holed out well from six feet and I hit a lot of great iron shots which helped.”
He also finished seventh in the Order of Merit in 2017 but this time he was left with a hollow feeling having gone into the final event in the hot seat of fifth place.
He wasn’t the only man feeling hard done by as Will Enefer fell two spots to sixth after Dan Brown made a six footer on the final green to finish tied second behind Jamie Rutherford and move up from ninth to fourth in the Order of Merit.
As for the hole in one, which earned him a 4K Apple TV and an Apple Watch, he hit a 190-yard six-iron, “straight down the pipe” at the uphill fifth for what he reckons was at least the 20th hole in one of his career.
“I’ve lost count,” he said. “But it’s been a while since I’ve had one.”
Had he taken out membership of the Challenge Tour at the start of the season, he might be looking forward to a full season on the second-tier tour in 2022 but as he explained, joining was never a consideration.
“I just thought there’s no point in me being a member as I won’t be playing in Challenge Tour events but I didn’t realise you had to be a member for the money to count on the money list,” said McElroy, who split with his management group last year.
“It would have basically given me full Challenge Tour rights and I would’ve had invitations because at that time I would’ve been sitting 30th in the Challenge Tour rankings. So it would’ve given me a great season if I had known that all I had to do was pay the membership fee. I still haven’t paid it because I haven’t played any Challenge Tour events since.
“I asked if I could pay it that weekend at Portmarnock Links and they said yes but my winnings wouldn’t count that week so I said well, there’s no point in paying it. It was €480 in May anyway, when normally it is around €280.”
Despite his near-miss, McElroy is upbeat about the future given the state of his game and with the chance of Team Ireland help, he may get half a dozen Challenge Tour starts all told, which mich be enough to follow in Murphy’s footsteps.
“Wherever I play next year I am still a step closer to where I want to be,” he said. “It’s not easy but you just have to keep plowing on and believing in yourself.
“It’s great to see John Murphy doing so well. I haven’t seen him for about six or seven years when he only a he was only a small little guy. He’s a big lad now and a very impressive golfer with a very impressive game.”
At the European Tour's Mallorca Open, Bryce Easton opened up a four-shot lead with one hole to play before play was suspended.
Ranked 195th in the Race to Dubai, the South African (34) needs a big finish to secure his card.
He made five birdies and a single bogey to lead on 11-under par through 17 holes, four strokes ahead of overnight leader Jeff Winther of Denmark and Spain's Jorge Campillo, Sebastian Garcia Rodriguez and Alvaro Quiros.
Jonathan Caldwell was tied 22nd on three-under after a 71 with Cormac Sharvin sitting on the one-over cut line after a 70.
However, Niall Kearney looked set to miss the weekend on two-over after a 72 with Paul Dunne three-over after a 76 and Gavin Moynihan 12-over following a 75.
At Stage II of the LPGA Tour Qualifying Tournament in Florida, Olivia Mehaffey has a mountain to climb to make the top 45 who progress to next month's Q-Series after adding a 74 to her opening 80 to remain near the back of the field on 10-over par at halfway.
