Four Scots bag European Tour cards as Spain’s Arnaus takes victory
Adri Arnaus yesterday fired a three-under-par final round of 69 to claim a wire-to-wire victory at the Ras Al Khaimah Challenge Tour Grand Final during an enthralling last day of the season which saw 15 players graduate to the European Tour.
Four Scots managed to end the season inside that allimportant top-15.
Craigielaw’s Grant Forrest led the way at No. 7, while Liam Johnston from Dumfries grabbed 10th spot. Left-hander Bob Macintyre secured 12th place and Paul Lawrie protege David Law came home in 14th spot.
All four can look forward to plying their trade on the European Tour next season, alongside England’s Jack Singh Brar, who also qualified.
Spaniard Arnaus had been in outstanding form all week at Al Hamra Golf Club, and after rounds of 66-69-67 he started the day with a threeshot lead as he went in search of a first Challenge Tour title after five top-five and seven top-10 finishes in his rookie campaign, prior to today. As was the case with many of the different accolades up for grabs, it came right down to the wire, with the 24-yearold needing to birdie the 72nd hole to
claim a season-ending triumph – which he did by holing a four-foot putt to seal a one-stroke win over Victor Perez. Frenchman Perez was looking to make it back-toback victories on Europe’s top developmental tour after his Foshan Open win a fortnight ago – a move which would have dethroned Joachim B. Hansen as the Road to Ras Al Khaimah No. 1. Despite closing with a superb fiveunder-par 67, Perez’s title charge ultimately fell short leaving Hansen to become the first Dane since Thomas Bjørn in 1995 to top the season-long Rankings.
But the most captivating battle today came for the final spot inside the coveted top 15. At the start of the week it was advantage to England’s Tom Murray, who held the final graduation position. His challenge ultimately fell away with a one-over-par 73 in the year’s final round.
Contrastingly Portugal’s Pedro Figueiredo, who started the week in 17th place in the Rankings, flew up the leaderboard by carding a closing 67 to push Murray outside of the top 15.
The battle for the final card looked to have been won by Dutchman Daan Huizing, who needed to finish in solo second place to claim the last spot.
The 28-year-old held the position with two holes to play, but after three-putting for a costly double bogey on the 17th he was forced to settle for third place – handing Figueiredo the 15th and final European Tour card.