Grantown golfer misses out on Challenge Tour for now
There was heartbreak for Grantown golfer Duncan Stewart, who just missed out on qualifying for next season’s Challenge Tour by a few hundred pounds.
He suffered a double blow at the conclusion of the PGA EuroPro Tour’s season-ending championship in Spain.
Stewart finished third, just one shot behind the play-off participants for the £15,000 jackpot prize.
Then he learned that his £3,250 prize money boosted his season’s earnings to £15,404, which saw him finish in sixth place in the order of merit.
Only the top five are automatically promoted to next season’s European Challenge Tour.
His hope now is that one of those finishing above him will gain their European Tour card as they got a change through the qualifying school thanks to their efforts on the EuroPro Tour.
Stewart finished only £363 behind the fifth-placed Jamie Abbott at the Mar Menor Golf Resort in Murcia in South-east Spain.
He closed with a 13-under-par total of 200 with scores of 67, 65 and 68.
Stewart, who has now returned to his home town, said he was still hopeful that he will make the cut for the Challenge Tour next year.
He said: "If one of the top five finishers gets a better category at stage two of the European Tour school I will be the next in line, and so far this has happened nearly every year in the past."
For now, Stewart has returned to work at the town’s Millers of Speyside until he finds out what is in store in December when the qualifying competition takes place.
The 27-year-old said that had been pleased with his last outing. "I played great out in Spain and possibly should have made it into the play-off, but I’m sure the others at the top of the leaderboard are thinking the same thing.
"I gave myself a lot of good chances but I never took them at the right time."
Stewart, a winner of a £10,000 prize earlier in the EuroPro Tour this season, had the best possible start in his final round in Spain.
He had birdies at the first two holes to boost his confidence for a round on which so much depended for his immediate golfing future.
He wobbled with a bogey at the long seventh and bounced back immediately with a birdie at the short eight. His last bogey of the day came at the ninth.
Stewart birdied the long 12th and the short 17th in covering the nine holes in two under par for a 68.
But he just couldn’t get one more birdie to get into the play-off in which victory would have put him on to the Challenge Tour next season.
His earlier rounds were 67 and 65.
Shaun McAllister (Craigielaw) and Cawder’s Chris Kelly tied for 15th place on 204 and earned £575 apiece. McAllister had four birdies and one bogey.
Paul Doherty (Vale of Glamorgan) finished joint 21st and earned £385 for a total of 207.
Lee Harper (Archerfield Links) picked up £315 for a joint 29th finish on 209.
Ed Wood (Crow Wood) finished last of the Scots in joint 42nd place on 213, for which he received £245.
James Busby (The Shropshire) won the play-off for the £15,000 prize after he and George Cowan (Westerhope) tied on 14-under-par 199.
Busby’s victory clinched his place among the five promoted to the Challenge Tour.
PGA Europro Tour Championship – Leading totals: 199 – James Busby (The Shropshire) 65 65 69, George Cowan (Westerhope) 67 67 65. Busby (£15,000) won sudden–death play–off; Cowan (£7,500). 200 – Duncan Stewart (Grantown on Spey) 67 65 68 (£3,750). 201 – Jon White (Saunton 72 64 65, George Woolgar (England) 71 64 66, Darryn Lloyd (Wales) 66 65 70 (£1,837 each).
Other Scots’ totals: 204 – Shaun McAllister (Craigielaw) 66 70 68, Chris Kelly (Cawder) 67 67 70 (T15) (£575 each). 207 – Paul Doherty (Vale Hotel) 71 69 67 (T21) (£385). 209 – Lee Harper (Archerfield Links) 69 70 70 (T29) (£315). 213 – Ed Wood (Crow Wood) 71 68 74 (T42) (£245).