Golf:Ireland's Colm Moriarty did his chances of gaining an unlikely promotion to the European Tour not harm at all with an opening round of 69 at the Challenge Tour Grand Final today.
Moriarty is currently 42nd in the Challenge Tour rankings and needs to finish either first or second to climb into the top 20 and earn his card on the main circuit next season.
The Dubliner’s two under par total at the San Domenico course in Puglia, Italy, saw him take a share of eighth place, three shots behind the leading trio of Sweden’s Peter Gustafsson, England’s Steven Tiley and Austrian Bernd Wiesberger.
“It’s obviously a big week for all of us — there’s no point in pretending otherwise,”
Moriarty said after his round. “Once we get here everyone forgets about the previous 24 events, and just focuses on this week. For me only a win or second place will do, so I can
probably afford to play a little more aggressively, because in some respects I’ve got nothing to lose.
“Today was solid enough, especially as the wind’s blowing — though not as much as it can do round here. I enjoy playing in the wind, because I’m pretty used to those sort of conditions. There’s more rough than when I last played here, in 2007. So it’s probably playing a little tougher. But the greens were quite soft after all the rain we had yesterday, so that made life a bit easier.”