Final-hole controversy robs Geary of European Tour spot
Kiwi golfer Josh Geary is furious after missing out on retaining his European Tour card — and a shot at big money — in controversial circumstances in Spain yesterday.
Needing to finish the six-round tournament at the Lumine Golf Club in Tarragona inside the top 25, the
34-year-old missed out by one shot, carding a two-under 69 to finish on
15-under par in a tie for 28th. This means Geary misses out on playing for large winners’ cheques on the European Tour next season, instead featuring on the second-tier Challenge Tour.
A bogey on the par-five 18th hole proved costly. Geary, who played at the 2009 Open Championship and has five career victories, told the Weekend Herald he was fuming after the leaderboard at the final tee didn’t show the crucial score of the 25thranked golfer.
Thinking he needed an eagle or perhaps a birdie to retain his card, Geary attacked the green with his second shot on the par-five 18th and ended up with a bogey. He would have played the hole differently had he known the scores.
“I played great up until the last hole,” Geary said. “I didn’t know where I was sitting, to be honest, the scoreboard only had the top eight scores, so I thought I needed an eagle or a birdie to finish off because that would have been 18-under.
“I went for the green in two on the par five, which was a risky shot, but a shot I needed to play, I thought, and walked off with bogey and then found out that par would have been good enough.”
It’s a shattering result for Geary, who earned $170,000 playing on the European Tour this year, making eight cuts in 22 events.
Geary couldn’t believe the leaderboard didn’t show him what he needed to do on the last hole.
“Just the way it unfolded is even more gut-wrenching, to be honest, because obviously a simple lay-up and a pitch on would have been fine. But I had no idea of the scores and what it was going to take, so I ended up going for something I didn’t need to go for, and that’s even worse than missing out on something normally.
“There should for sure be the score of the 25th guy because the top10 scores are irrelevant basically. Everyone knows how important the
25th card is. They had the cut line on the board at the end of the fourth round, but [yesterday], they had no numbers.
“It’s really frustrating because you can’t use your cell phone to look at the scoreboard, so there’s no way of knowing where you’re standing and you’re kind of just guessing and in that situation in the last hole, it was a big do-or-die sort of moment and has proved costly and gut-wrenching.
“I was guessing because the weather was pretty good, so thinking like the cut might be 18-under or maybe 17, because of the pressure and thinking I needed a three or maybe a four, but it turns out I needed a five, and that’s what it would have taken.”
It’s back to the Challenge Tour for Geary in 2019 but he remains optimistic he can bounce back quickly and get back on the European Tour.
“I guess I’ve finished high in the category of just missing out, so I’ll probably get eight to 10 starts next year on the European Tour and maybe with a couple more invites potentially to top that up slightly.
“Early on in the year, I’ll probably play the Challenge Tour and get the European Tour starts towards the mid to late season so it might work OK in terms of keeping a full schedule. There are positives because I feel like I’m playing great golf and as long as I have a few opportunities, I feel like soon it could be breakthrough time.”
At the other end of the European Tour, Ryan Fox had a dreadful first day at the season-ending DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.
Fox shot a two-over par 74 with only one birdie to be 52nd in the 60-man elite field. England’s Jordan Smith and Spain’s Adrian Otaaegui led at six-under, with Tommy Fleetwood and Francesco Molinari both well placed as they battle to claim the season-long money race.
Lydia Ko made a solid start at the LPGA season-ending event, the CME Group Tour Championship. Ko shot a three-under 69 to be tied for ninth with 14 others. American Amy Olson leads at 9-under par.
Rising star Nick Voke had a strong second round at the Australian Open at The Lakes in Sydney. Voke carded four birdies and two bogeys to be three-under par for the tournament — level with fellow Kiwi Gareth Paddison — and five shots off the lead.
That’s held by Byeong Hun An of South Korea, who used an ace at the par-three 15th to get to eight-under par and was joined by Australian Matt McCardle, a shot ahead of American star Matt Kuchar.
It was a big do-or-die sort of moment and has proved costly and gut-wrenching. Josh Geary