Late bogey costs Young European Tour card
DANIEL YOUNG was left cursing a bogey on his penultimate hole as the Scot narrowly missed out on a European Tour card in the closing round of the qualifying school final at Lumine near Barcelona yesterday.
The Perth golfer, a winner on the third-tier PGA EuroPro Tour this season, was on course for a step-up to the main circuit coming to the closing stages of his sixth and final round but a dropped shot on his 17th hole cost him dearly.
Young signed off with a threeunder 68 but his 11-under tally was just one shot shy of a top-25 spot needed to earn a European Tour card for the 2020 campaign.
The former South African Amateur champion will at least have a full category for next season’s Challenge Tour, though.
Craig Howie of Peebles was the next best Scot on 10-under after a spirited 66 while Marc Warren, a three-time European Tour winner, is facing up to life on the second-tier after finishing down on seven-under.
Bearsden’s former Walker Cup player Ewen Ferguson, who was sitting well inside the all-important top 25 after 72-holes, fell away over the closing two days and ended up on a six-under total.
At the head of the field, Denmark’s Benjamin Poke claimed the No.1 qualifying spot on 25-under and was six shots clear of France’s former Scottish Open winner Gregory Havret.
Meanwhile, the European Tour has postponed next week’s Hong Kong Open due to the ongoing civil unrest in the city.
Several sporting events have been cancelled due to the trouble, including the PGA Tour-China’s Clearwater Bay Open and the Hong Kong Open tennis and squash tournaments.
The first event on the European Tour’s 2020 calendar has now become another casualty.
The tournament could be rescheduled for early next year and European Tour chief executive Keith Pelley said in a statement: “The decision has been taken due to the ongoing level of social unrest in Hong Kong.
“As the safety of our players, staff, stakeholders and everyone involved in each and every one of our tournaments around the world is our top priority, we feel this is the correct, but unfortunate, course of action.”