Kentish Express Ashford & District
Barnes’ strong finish
Jason Barnes is closing in on his best-ever season on golf’s Challenge Tour.
The 30-year-old Ashford-born player, a member of Chart Hills, now living at Headcorn near Maidstone, finished tied third in the National Bank of Oman Golf Classic at Muscat on Sunday.
The tournament was won by 20-year-old fellow Kent player Max Orrin from Birchington, who celebrated his maiden victory on the sport’s second tier.
Barnes hit 10 birdies in his first round over the Greg Norman designed course and led the way with a round 65, despite three putting at the last from 25 feet.
He then dropped off the pace with rounds of 75 and 77 before finishing with a 68 to tie third with Mark Tullo, of Chile. The pair won just short of ¤17,000 each.
It took Barnes’ earnings for the year to just shy of ¤59,000 and moved him inside the top 15 heading into this week’s season finale in Dubai.
Speaking after
the
opening round, he said: “I was over the moon with that score. If you’d have offered me seven under at the start of the day I would have ripped your hand off.
“It was a bit disappointing to bogey the last having played it well -– it’s just going to sour the taste a little bit – but all in all I’m happy.
“I got a little bit lucky out there at times, I chipped in twice, which always helps! It was solid golf.”
Barnes, whose biggest cheque before this season was ¤3,200 three years ago, was also tied third at the Foshan Open in China the week before the Oman event, finishing 13-under par after rounds of 66, 70, 69 and 70.
The highlight of his season before that was finishing runner-up at the Aegean Airlines event in Germany in early July.
His 11-under-par total was just two shots behind South African winner Jake Roos.