Golf:Colm Moriarty failed in his bid to win a European Tour card at the Challenge Tour's Apulia San Domenico Grand Final in Italy and will now make plans to return to the final stage of Qualifying School at the start of December.
The Athlone professional’s bid to win one of the 20 cards on offer was always an outside chance after starting the week 42nd in the standings. A closing 72 for a seven over 291 aggregate left Moriarty in 31st place in Puglia.
Today’s round contained nine straight pars on the front nine but he suffered a run of three bogeys from the 12th. From there he rallied with two birdies in his final four holes but all roads now lead to Qualifying School.
Last year the 31-year-old finished 119th at the final stage of Qualifying School where Gary Murphy and Simon Thornton both won their European Tour cards. Murphy and Thornton are also destined to join Moriarty at PGA Catalunya next month.
England’s Matt Haines carded a final round 66 for an eight under 276 aggregate to win by one from Australia’s Daniel Gaunt, who closed with a 70.
Collated final round scores & totals in the European Challenge Tour Apulia San Domenico Grand Final, San Domenico Golf, Puglia, Italy
(Par: 71)
276M Haines (Eng) 69 72 69 66
277D Gaunt (Aus) 67 74 66 70
280L Gagli (Ita) 71 74 69 66, L Slattery (Eng) 70 72 69 69
281C Baker (USA) 68 73 69 71, P Gustafsson (Swe) 66 74 70 71, P Edberg (Swe) 68 75 69 69
282S Manley (Wal) 72 73 67 70, B Evans (Eng) 69 73 69 71, C Russo (Fra) 73 68 70 71, B Wiesberger (Aut) 66 73 70 73
283R Russell (Sco) 74 72 69 68, J Sjoholm (Swe) 71 77 70 65, V Riu (Fra) 71 75 71 66, S Tiley (Eng) 66 73 72 72, G Murray (Sco) 71 73 68 71
284T Olesen (Den) 69 74 72 69, S Jamieson (Sco) 69 73 72 70, J Arruti (Spa) 69 75 70 70
285A Marshall (Eng) 69 75 69 72, A Velasco (Spa) 72 74 68 71, M Carlsson (Swe) 72 73 73 67
286A Tadini (Ita) 75 72 70 69
287O Floren (Swe) 73 72 74 68, D Denison (Eng) 70 72 70 75
288C Del Moral (Spa) 67 78 72 71
289J Clement (Swi) 73 75 71 70, A Kaleka (Fra) 69 76 74 70
290S Walker (Eng) 75 74 69 72, M Korhonen (Fin) 77 75 69 69
291 C Moriarty (Irl) 69 77 73 72
292E Dubois (Fra) 72 75 74 71
293F De Vries (Ned) 76 72 74 71, D Vanegas (Col) 70 78 76 69, F Colombo (Ita) 76 74 73 70, M Zions (Aus) 72 78 70 73
295M Tullo (Chi) 73 77 72 73
296C Ford (Eng) 72 78 69 77
297J McLeary (Sco) 71 79 76 71, R Dinwiddie (Eng) 72 79 74 72, J Zapata (Arg) 71 85 70 71, M Thorp (Nor) 70 82 73 72
298S Davis (Eng) 69 80 75 74
299A Gee (Eng) 75 76 74 74
301J Larsen (Nor) 69 78 80 74