Purcell aiming high in Turkey after career-low 65 yields another top 20
Portmarnock's Conor Purcell. Picture; INPHO
Portmarnock's Conor Purcell closed with a career-low 65 in the Hainan Classic to move inside the top 127 who will retain their DP World Tour cards.
The Dublin rookie (27) arrived at Mission Hills looking to build on a season's best tie for 15th in the Volvo China Open.
He went into the final round tied for 60th on level par but fed off some recent good form and fired a bogey-free 65 for his lowest score on the DP World Tour to tie for 20th on seven-under.
The former Walker Cup star finished ten strokes behind England's Marco Penge, who shot 67 to win his maiden DP World Tour title by three strokes from American Sean Crocker and Norway's Kristoffer Reitan.
But after earning €26,181 and valuable Race to Dubai points with back-to-back top-20 finishes, Purcell's looking to push on in this week's Turkish Airlines Open.
"The game has been feeling good lately," said Purcell, who was 187th in the points list after six missed cuts in his first eight events but now lies 127th.
"Getting competitive reps consistently is important, and I'm just looking to keep the ball rolling now in Turkey."
Like Purcell, Penge (26) is a HotelPlanner Tour graduate, and he's now set for his third major appearance at next month's PGA Championship.
His win helped him finish third in the Asian Swing rankings to earn one of three spots at Quail Hollow alongside Japan's Keita Nakajima and Spain's Eugenio Chacarra, who finished first and second in the list.
"This obviously means the world to me," Penge said. "It's something that I've always dreamt of achieving - winning on the biggest stage."
