Trainor powers home in ‘Lexus’
The former Warrenpoint Senior Cup golfer, clocked rounds of 68 and 70 for a six-under-par total of 138 to win by four strokes from Brendan McGovern and, not only win the final Lexus lap, but also snatch the Irish Order of Merit from last year’s winner David Higgins.
Trainor collected a cheque for €4,000 for his weekend 36 holes work which left him on 43,458.75 Order of Merit points and, shooting to the top of the Order of Merit leaderboard, earned him an extra €10,000.
“It certainly has been the best weekend of my life,” enthused Barrie, “and at the moment I just don’t know where I am. This is my sixth year as a professional and I was getting worried that I would end it without a title. I won the Irish Amateur for the first three years and then for the last two years I won the PGA Ulster Championship.
Higgins, who finished joint third, ended second in the Order of Merit to add a bonus of €7,500 euro while Damian Mooney, tied 16th yesterday, retained his third position in the Merit table and earned a €5,000 bonus.
* England’s Tom Lewis confirmed his superstar potential yesterday when he produced a stunning finish to win the Portugal Masters on only his third start as a professional.
Three months after firing the lowest-ever round by an amateur in the British Open, the 20-year-old had another 65 as he took the £375,166 first prize by two strokes from Spain’s Rafael Cabrera-Bello.
Tiger Woods needed five tournaments to land his first professional title, while Rory McIlroy did not taste success until his 38th European Tour event.
“I was really dreading going to the qualifying school at the end of the year, but it looks like I’ve skipped that,” he added”
Instead he will be making a World Championship debut in China next month and leaps to third place on the Ryder Cup points table.
Lewis, shocked to have won so early in his career, has his feet on the ground, however, and stated: “I’m a long way behind Rory and have a long way to go.”
* Colm Moriarty saw his bid to secure the third place finish he required to qualify for the Challenge Tour’s Grand Final come up short after an agonising double bogey seven during the final round of the penultimate event of the season, the Roma Golf Open.
The Athlone professional, who burst into contention with a brilliant third round 65 at the Olgiata Golf Club, holed his 96 yard approach on the first hole of the final round for an eagle two and led the tournament until the par five 15th where a double bogey seven brought a cruel end to his hopes of winning the title and keeping his Challenge Tour season alive.
Moriarty’s playing partner, Englishman Sam Little, holed out from 104 yards for eagle on the same hole to replace him at the top of the leaderboard before another chip-in on the 16th for birdie set up a sudden-death play-off with Swede Pelle Edberg from which Little emerged the victor.
“That 15th hole has a lot to answer for – I took two sixes and a seven on that hole this week and it was the only hole that I dropped shots on all week,” lamented Moriarty.
Moriarty will now get ready for the Tour School’s Second Stage in December where he will hope to win a place in the final. Simon Thornton, the only other Irishman to survive the halfway cut in Rome, had a disappointing final round of four over par to fall back into the pack in a share of 26th spot.
The County Down professional will be the only Irish representative at the Grand Final in three weeks, where he will look to at least consolidate his current ranking position of 15th as he seeks to win one of the 20 available European Tour cards on offer at San Domenico Golf in Southern Italy.
* Denis O’Sullivan sealed his fifth top 20 finish this year and earned after his two over par 73 in the final round of the Benahavis Senior Masters left him tied 18th at La Quinta Golf and Country Club in Benahavis, Spain, where Carl Mason sealed European Senior Tour title number 25.
Des Smyth finished a disappointing tied 43rd despite carding for his best round of the week, a one over par 71, on the final day at Benahavis.
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