Will Zalatoris plays a stroke from the No. 14 tee during Round 3 of the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club, Saturday, April 10, 2021.

PAUL MCBRIDE might have lost out in a five-way playoff for the Alps Tour's Antognolla Alps Open, but he's inspired to keep chasing his tour dream after seeing his former Wake Forest teammate Will Zalatoris finish second in the Masters.

The Dubliner (25) closed with a six-under 65 at Antognolla Golf near Perugia in Italy to make a playoff on nine-under, but he had to settle for a cheque for €2,635 as Italy's Stefano Mazzoli made nine-footer for birdie at the first extra hole and took home €5,800.

Scores

It was still a great week for the man from The Island, who turned professional in 2019 and enjoy limited status on the Challenge Tour as he works to match his putting to his brilliant long game.

Having played Walker Cup golf and competed alongside Zalatoris at Wake Forest against the likes of Collin Morikawa, Matthew Wolff and Viktor Hovland, McBride knows he’s not a million miles away from making it to golf’s top table.

“The game is good, and I'm playing well,” he said as he made the drive back to Rome last night. “Everything is pretty solid. Everything is coming together fairly well, so I am happy enough though today just didn't work out.

“My game has been improving, and I have been very good tee to green now for a good while. If I put well, I will be round. I know it is the Achilles' heel, so I know that if I put well, I will be fine.”

Wake Forest’s Paul McBride and Will Zalatoris were rivals at the 2017 Walker Cup

His schedule remains a work in progress due to Covid-19 but he will certainly be home for the Irish Challenge at Portmarnock Links next month and intends to play as often as he can on the European Tour’s second-tier circuit and fill in the rest of his weeks on the Alps Tour.

“I will play what I can. I have a little bit of Challenge Tour status, so I will play some events there, and anytime I can play out there on the Challenge Tour, I will play out there, yeah, so I am looking forward to the Irish Challenge next month.”

As for the Antognolla Alps Open, he went into the final round tied for seventh, five shots off the lead but made five birdies in a row to turn in 31, then picked up two more shots at the 10th and 12th before following bogeys at the 13th and 14th with a closing birdie for his 65.

“Today I didn't expect to be in the playoff,” he confessed. “I finished, and I came in, and I had lunch, and then the boys behind me made a load of bogeys, and I ended up being in a playoff.

“It was weird because I didn't expect it. But I do feel like I am playing well, and I feel very comfortable on the course to which is nice. I don't feel any unease. I feel I am getting to the place I want to be out there.”

Mazolli shot 61 to tie with McBride, Spain’s Alex Esmatges (66), Filippo Bergamaschi (67) and overnight leader Stefano Pitoni (70) on nine-under as David Carey shot 66 to finish three shots further back in joint sixth.

“In the playoff, me and Stefano were the only two with relatively decent birdie chances on the first playoff hole,” McBride said. “He had about nine feet for birdie, and I had 18 to 20 feet. I missed, and he made it, so that was the way it went. The other three guys were 40-feet away.”

It’s a result that puts McBride 11th in the Order of Merit on a tour where the top five earn Challenge Tour status but he has his sights set higher.

Watching his long-time teammate Zalatoris push Hideki Matsuyama all the way on his Masters was certainly an inspiration but also no real surprise.

“It was weird watching him because I know him so well and spent four years of my life with him,” McBride said. “He's so good. The first day I played with him, I thought, 'God, this guy is different. He's a brilliant player. He's just an incredible ball-striker. He's so, so, so good it's hard to explain how good he is. It's definitely nice to see the players you played with doing well because having played with them, you know you're not that far away.

“There is a small gap between lower tour golf and main tour golf, but it's still a gap that needs to be bridged. It has to be done. You can't just say it's just it's such a small gap. You have to be able to bridge it yourself.”

McBride knows he has to taken his chances when it comes along, just as Zalatoris has done on invitations on the PGA Tour, rising from 1166t to 28th in the world over the past 12 months.

“You have to take that opportunity when it comes along, and that's what Will has done,” McBride explained. “He struggled for his first 18 months. I still talk to him once a week probably, and he really struggled his first 12 months anyway. But now he is just settled in. I think he just finds his comfort zone. I know for a fact, without even talking to him, that he went to the Masters fully believing that he could win. He hundred per cent believed he could win it, which is a great mindset to have.”

While he’s not in the Zalatoris league as a ball-striker, McBride is excellent from tee to green and knows he just has to improve his putting to make major strides.

“I just have to keep chipping away at it,” he confessed. “I work with Neil Manchip on it. I don't feel like I am putting badly, but the results aren't there. This week I didn't putt very well; I didn't put well at all. I putted quite average, but I still got into a playoff, so I know that if I was to put half decent, I'd have had an easy win there this week. I feel good over the putter, but the results are not there; I just have to keep plugging away.”

He’s looking forward to the Irish Challenge but he’d also love an invitation to tee it up in the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open at Mount Juliet after only missing the cut by a shot at Lahinch.

“I played in Lahinch but last year I was a caddy up in Galgorm Castle for Paul Dunne so I love to play this year anyway,” he said with a chuckle.

As for his progress and his best result since he won on the Portugal Pro Tour in 2019, he said: “I’m getting there. This is a slightly higher level so it’s progress. We’ll just keep plugging away.”