HARDING WINS AS POWER BOOKS IRISH OPEN SPOT
South Africa’s Justin Harding won the Irish Challenge at Killeen Castle (Photo: Getty Images)
South Africa’s Justin Harding sealed his first victory for over five years after coming through a testing final round of the Irish Challenge at Killeen Castle where Mark Power booked his place into the Amgen Irish Open as the leading Irishman.
Harding signed for a one under par 71 at the Meath venue to reach 13 under par, one stroke ahead of compatriot Louis Albertse and Frenchman Mathieu Decottignies-Lafon. Harding jumps 116 places to 25th on the season-long Road to Mallorca Rankings and admitted he wasn’t sure this moment would come.
“This feels unbelievable and I didn’t think this was going to come,” said Harding of his HotelPlanner Tour win. “I’ve been harping on about playing well but that doesn’t mean you’re going to get over the line. I’ve had a lot of good moments in golf and I’ve been lucky. It’s a good win as it gives me chances and a bit of a refocus going forward.”
Power endured a tough closing with untimely bogeys coming down the stretch, but it didn’t derail his pursuit of a place in the field at Trump International Golf Links in Doonbeg next month.
Despite bogeys at 16 and 18 as the weather closed in at Killeen Castle, it meant he signed for a closing 70 to get to nine-under and tied 10th. That was good enough to finish ninth and secure the Christy O’Connor Jnr trophy as the leading Irish player of the week.
“The Irish Open spot is always nice and to also win the Christy O’Connor Jnr award,” said Power, who picked up €5,925.
Liam Nolan closed with a 73 to be six-under and tied 18th for a €3,069 cheque. Ronan Mullarney and Gary Hurley finished one-under for €1,144 each, while Max Kennedy was four-over (€900) and Dermot McElroy 10-over (€780).
As for Harding, he started the day in a tie for the lead but ran into trouble straight away after his opening tee shot found the fairway bunker, resulting in a bogey. He responded well, however, with two front nine birdies helping him turn at one under.
With conditions deteriorating, the 40-year-old got his back nine off to the worse possible start as a double bogey on the 10th dropped him back down a congested leaderboard, with Albertse setting the pace on 13 under.
Harding cut the deficit with a birdie on 12 and remained in touching distance of Albertse after the duo both bogeyed the difficult 14th. The pair would trade birdies on the next before Harding’s exquisite approach to 16 saw him set up birdie to pull into a tie at the top.
After both players parred the penultimate par four, Harding made a routine par on the testing 18th, before Albertse missed his seven-foot par putt, allowing the South African to celebrate his first professional victory since the 2021 Magical Kenya Open.
“Louis and I had a great day today,” he added. “I played solid the front nine and thought I’d blown it on the tenth. When the field is so congested one or two shots make a big difference.
“I took a shot on 12 and wanted to change the momentum of my round, and I made a couple of putts coming in. Sooner or later, you’ve got to take a shot on, and I did that on 16. I played the last couple of holes really nicely and I felt like I hit some good shots.”
South African Martin Vorster and American Charles Huntzinger end the week in a share of fourth position on 11 under par, one stroke ahead of English duo Matthew Southgate and Will Enefer, Bryce Easton from South Africa and Tobias Jensen Eden from Sweden.
Spain’s Pablo Ereno has captured top spot on the Road to Mallorca Rankings with South African MJ Daffue dropping to second position. Dane Hamish Brown holds third spot, with Frenchman Julien Sale and Swede Christofer Blomstrand rounding out the top five.
Scores:
275 J HARDING (RSA) 65 70 69 71,
276 M DECOTTIGNIES-LAFON (FRA) 69 69 68 70, L ALBERTSE (RSA) 69 63 72 72,
277 M VORSTER (RSA) 69 70 72 66, C HUNTZINGER (USA) 68 73 69 67,
278 M SOUTHGATE (ENG) 70 70 71 67, W ENEFER (ENG) 64 71 73 70, B EASTON (RSA) 65 69 71 73, T JENSEN ED?N (SWE) 68 72 65 73,
279 H BARRON (AUS) 70 69 71 69, M POWER (IRL) 68 72 69 70, P ERE?O (ESP) 67 68 71 73, F KENNEDY (ENG) 69 70 67 73,
280 W BESSELING (NED) 67 71 71 71,
281 M BESARD (BEL) 67 75 69 70, S JONES (NZL) 69 67 71 74, R SCIOT-SIEGRIST (FRA) 73 68 65 75,
282 R FRANSSEN (SCO) 71 69 73 69, H LONG (GER) 69 70 73 70, S FRIEDRICHSEN (DEN) 71 68 72 71, T TETAK (SVK) 67 72 72 71, C FORSTER (ENG) 71 70 70 71, A GOFF (USA) 70 69 70 73, L NOLAN (IRL) 74 69 66 73, D FOOS (GER) 67 70 71 74, R LUMSDEN (SCO) 72 67 69 74, J RUTHERFORD (ENG) 70 70 68 74,
283 L VAN DER VIGHT (NED) 70 71 73 69, J VECCHI FOSSA (ITA) 72 68 71 72, C FYFE (SCO) 66 74 70 73, G BLOOR (ENG) 69 73 68 73, G ROBERTSON (SCO) 70 73 67 73, K BRESSUM (DEN) 69 66 73 75, J G?TH-RASMUSSEN (DEN) 71 65 72 75, J MOSCATEL (ESP) 64 72 71 76, B SKOGEN (NOR) 70 70 66 77,
284 J VOGELPOHL (USA) 69 73 72 70, J TORRES (ESP) 70 70 72 72, T LEWIS (ENG) 73 68 71 72, C HANNA (USA) 72 69 70 73, B BROWN (ENG) 74 66 69 75, W NIENABER (RSA) 66 72 70 76, A QUIROS (ESP) 68 72 68 76,
285 C FARR (ENG) 71 71 72 71, M VILJOEN (RSA) 66 73 73 73, G GRAHAM (SCO) 67 72 73 73, A HORTAL (ESP) 69 73 67 76,
286 A KLEEN (SWE) 73 70 73 70, J CATLIN (USA) 72 70 73 71, L ROSENDAHL (AM) (FIN) 69 70 72 75,
287 C BLOMSTRAND (SWE) 70 70 76 71, R MULLARNEY (IRL) 69 74 72 72, V BJORLOW (DEN) 70 73 72 72, B AMAT (FRA) 70 71 73 73, G HURLEY (IRL) 70 70 73 74, M STEWART (SCO) 69 68 75 75, B RUSCH (SUI) 67 74 69 77,
289 C SHAUN (USA) 69 73 75 72,
290 S LOCKE (SCO) 72 70 74 74, J DE BRUYN (GER) 68 71 76 75,
291 J JI (NED) 70 69 73 79,
292 M KENNEDY (IRL) 75 68 72 77,
293 P PINEAU (FRA) 73 70 76 74, C WOOD (ENG) 66 77 75 75,
294 C SORDET (FRA) 70 70 77 77,
298 D MCELROY (NIR) 72 71 79 76,
301 M WARREN (SCO) 68 75 78 80,
**
144 D GERMISHUYS (RSA) 68 76, L SCALISE (ITA) 72 72, R VAN VELZEN (RSA) 70 74, V CHOPRA (USA) 74 70, R KLEU (SUI) 69 75, J PATERSON (SCO) 73 71, N CARLSON (USA) 72 72, M HAMMER (GER) 71 73, C ADAMS (USA) 72 72, F MRUZEK (CZE) 75 69, M KIEFFER (GER) 70 74, H MAGNUS (ISL) 73 71,
145 L JOHNSTON (SCO) 68 77, C PURCELL (IRL) 74 71, V SIDAL SVENDSEN (DEN) 75 70, J BARCOS GARBAYO (ESP) 74 71, S THORNTON (IRL) 70 75, B VIRTO (ESP) 73 72, J WILSON (ENG) 71 74, N BACHEM (GER) 73 72, R PETERSSON (SWE) 72 73, J ANDERSEN (DEN) 71 74, J HACK (USA) 72 73, W HOPKINS (ENG) 76 69,
146 A PLANT (ENG) 70 76, Q CROKER (AUS) 74 72, J MEYER DE BECO (BEL) 72 74, M GILCHREST (USA) 74 72, L ADDABBO (ITA) 74 72, R MCGOWAN (ENG) 73 73, M GIBOUDOT (FRA) 68 78, C SHARVIN (NIR) 73 73, M ERIKSSON (SWE) 75 71,
147 L VAN MEIJEL (NED) 70 77, H BYERS (ENG) 72 75, S MURPHY (IRL) 74 73, D MULLIGAN (IRL) 74 73, J BEKIRIAN (ARM) 72 75, J SALAMA (ESP) 71 76, J FLOYDD (ENG) 72 75, R MORAN (IRL) 75 72,
148 B GILL (ENG) 77 71, C BRING (DEN) 74 74, P FOLEY (AM) (SUI) 74 74, F KJETTRUP (DEN) 73 75, T SCHMIDT (GER) 76 72, A ZEMMER (ITA) 71 77, J GOUGH (ENG) 71 77, M FEUERSTEIN (USA) 69 79, A KNAPPE (GER) 79 69,
149 A AGUILERA (ESP) 75 74, H FOLEY (IRL) 70 79, T HUNT (WAL) 77 72, J CALLES ROMAN (ESP) 75 74, J DOYLE (AM) (IRL) 72 77, T GOUVEIA (POR) 72 77, C GOUGH (ENG) 72 77, R BRAZILL (IRL) 71 78,
150 R HARRIS (ENG) 76 74, J BRUN (FRA) 75 75, S TARRIO (ESP) 70 80, R FOLEY (SUI) 73 77, K VINCENT (ZIM) 73 77, W DE VRIES (NED) 74 76, V ALVES (POR) 78 72, C CLAYCOMB (USA) 75 75,
151 P KATICH (GER) 81 70, C BRAEUNIG (GER) 77 74, A WALLIN (SWE) 74 77, C RAHM (SWE) 72 79, M HIRMER (GER) 79 72, T CARTER (ENG) 73 78,
152 A BONETA (ESP) 70 82, B ?KESSON (SWE) 75 77, P FIGUEIREDO (POR) 70 82, R KIVI (EST) 75 77, J SUGRUE (IRL) 71 81,
153 J PAGDIN (ENG) 73 80, D LANGLEY (ENG) 74 79, B BAWDEN (ENG) 74 79,
155 H LOGAN (USA) 77 78,
156 C GUICHARD (FRA) 74 82, L LANG (GER) 80 76,
159 A WINTER (ENG) 79 80,
160 B ST JOHN (IRL) 79 81,
163 D CLEMONS (ENG) 81 82,
**
OUT J GALBRAITH (NIR) 73 RT, J SERRA (ESP) RT , A NODARI (ITA) RT ,