Walker and Sainz share the advantage in Mallorca at Rolex Challenge Tour Grand Final

Golf Digest Middle East — Fri, 04 Nov 2022 06:05:43 +0000

By GolfDigestME.com
Javier Sainz and Euan Walker made the perfect start in their quest for a DP World Tour card by each posting four-under rounds of 68 on day one of the Rolex Challenge Tour Grand Final.

The duo lead by one at Club de Golf Alcanada as they look to climb into the top 20 on the Road to Mallorca Rankings and secure DP World Tour playing rights for 2023.

Both men earned their maiden European Challenge Tour titles in 2022, with Sainz, the Road to Mallorca No. 36, claiming the Farmfoods Scottish Challenge title in May, while Scotsman Walker, currently ranked 21st, won the British Challenge last month.

Should either player win this week they would be guaranteed a spot in the top 20, however they have a host of players chasing them down.

Alexander Knappe, the current Road to Mallorca No. 3, is in a share of third place after round one, with England’s Todd Clements and Frenchman Jeong weon Ko joining him on three-under.

A group of seven players, including Rankings leader Jeremy Freiburghaus are in a share of sixth place on two-under. Should the leaderboard remain as it is, the 26-year-old is projected to become the Challenge Tour’s first Swiss No. 1.

The weather is expected to turn on Friday with strong winds forecast to arrive in Mallorca, resulting in an implementation of an early two-tee start.

“I did some good work with my caddie,” said Sainz. “I missed two shots today and was always on the right side of the course. This is the key when you play this course with how the course is prepared.

“We had two weeks off and I think it was good for me to rest before playing the Grand Final. I did some good work last week and that came through today. I need to be patient and see what the rest of the week brings.”

Sensational putt from @euanwalkergolf ?

He moves into a tie for the lead!#RolexGrandFinal pic.twitter.com/zoeC40dk9L

— Challenge Tour (@Challenge_Tour) November 3, 2022

Walker added: “It’s about as well as I could have hoped for really, I hit the ball really nicely and I had a few breaks go my way so I can’t hope for anything better than that.

Walker added: “I have been playing nicely for about three months now, I think its just a culmination of lots of things now, but its been going really well. The trick in golf is to keep doing well, I’m not saying it’s easy to play well one day but to play well consistently over a longer period of time is that’s what I want to do and hopefully I can do over the next couple of days.”

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Ireland’s James Sugrue wins Amateur Championship at home as Portmarnock plays rare host

Golf Digest Middle East — Sun, 23 Jun 2019 04:38:12 +0000

(Sam Barnes)

By John Huggan
Never once behind, but hunted all the way to the 36th green during Saturday’s final match, Irishman James Sugrue is the 2019 Amateur champion. Calling him the “British” Amateur champion would be technically incorrect, as the event was played for only the second time in its 134-year history at Portmarnock in the Republic of Ireland. That fact will make the biggest win of Sugrue’s life only more special for the man from the Mallow club in County Cork.

It was an intriguing if sometimes scrappy final against Scotsman Euan Walker, one dominated early by the eventual champion. After winning the opening three holes, Sugrue was 5 up by the turn in the morning round of the championship match. By lunch, the lead was reduced to 3 up, and it was Walker who played most of the better golf thereafter. An approximate four under par for the first 15 holes of the afternoon round, the Kilmarnock Barassie member (the club is actually in Troon) tied the match on the 33rd hole.

A crucial mistake from Walker, however, came on the 35th, where he made his first bogey in 17 holes. And the 36th hole was even worse for the Scot. Technically, it was conceded, making the final margin of victory 2 up. Whatever, in the 22-year-old Sugrue, Ireland has its eighth Amateur champion since World War II and the first since Alan Dunbar in 2012.

Victory comes with many perks—places in the upcoming Open Championship at Royal Portrush and next year’s Masters and U.S. Open—even in an event that has lost some of its lustres in recent years. Only two Amateur champions—Matteo Manassero in 2009 and Romain Langasque six years later—have made the cut at Augusta National in this century. And you have to go back to 2007, when Drew Weaver lifted the famous trophy, to find an American winner.

This year, the two finalists were at best unlikely. Sugrue, the 2017 South of Ireland champion, was actually the lowest ranked (249th) of the eight quarterfinalists, 178 spots down from Walker, who himself was 64 places behind the highest-ranked survivor at that stage (Australia’s David Micheluzzi). A quarterfinalist last year, Micheluzzi lost, 3 and 1, to Sugrue in the semifinals, after seeing off the last American, Cameron Sisk.

Neither finalists distinguished themselves in the 36-hole stroke-play qualifying led by Thomas Plumb of England and Dane John Axelsen. Walker was T-29 on 145, six shots behind the leaders, and Sugrue finished T-45 on 146, a second-round 69 on The Island course redeeming his opening 77 at Portmarnock.

Even in the knock-out stages, neither finalist had an easy time. Only once in his six matches did either man play fewer than 17 holes; four times each was taken to the 18th green or beyond. Neither, at least, can be faulted for endurance.

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Walker and Sainz share the advantage in Mallorca at Rolex Challenge Tour Grand Final

Ireland’s James Sugrue wins Amateur Championship at home as Portmarnock plays rare host