Simon Lilly carded a fantastic final round of 65 to win the Tour Championship on the PGA EuroPro Tour at De Vere Slaley Hall, Northumberland by seven shots at eight under par – securing his Challenge Tour card in the process and denying Chris Hanson victory.
Lilly (Wellingborough) played with the duo he shared the overnight lead with – Chris Hanson (Woodsome Hall) and Paul Doherty (Vale Hotel) – but as they struggled to build on the platform they had set, Lilly stormed out of the blocks with four birdies in the first six holes to seize the initiative.
He then matched that birdie salvo on the back nine by picking up a shot at the tenth then three straight birdies from the 13th moved him to nine under for the tournament before a minor blemish in the shape of a bogey at the last saw him finish at eight under par, seven shots ahead of Steve Surry.
“Obviously with three of us tied for the lead I had winning in my mind and I thought that if I shot somewhere in the 60s I would be hard to beat, but to do that today was just unreal,” said Lilly, who moves into fifth on the final Order of Merit standings with the £15,000 winner’s cheque to take the final Challenge Tour card.
Hanson’s bid for the title was all over after dropping four shots in his first four holes, eventually finishing eight over for the day and in a tie for 18th spot, while Doherty went round in 75 to finish two over for the tournament and in a three-way tie for sixth with Colin Roope (wstore.co.uk) and Paul Maddy (Gog Magog), who shot a three under par 69 in his final round.
The respective slips from Hanson and Doherty opened the door for Surry (Cumberwell Park) to move through the field to take second spot with a two under par final round. Following rounds of 74 and 71, Surry made his move on the front nine with three birdies and just one bogey – consolidating his position with a level par back nine.
FINAL SCORES FROM DE VERE SLALEY HALL
1 Simon Lilly 208 -8 73, 70, 65 £15,000
2 Steve Surry 215 -1 74, 71, 70 £7,500
=3 Brian McElhinney 216 Lvl 75, 72, 69 £2,650
=3 Steven Parry 216 Lvl 73, 73, 70 £2,650
5 Matthew Ford 217 +1 76, 73, 68 £1,500
6 Paul Maddy 218 +2 73, 76, 69 £1,300
=7 James Gill 219 +3 79, 69, 71 £1,000
=7 Colin Roope 219 +3 73, 72, 74 £1,000
=7 Paul Doherty 219 +3 71, 72, 76 £1,000
TOP 15 ORDER OF MERIT
1 Scott Jamieson £23,492.25
2 Tom Haylock £22,972.41
3 Daniel Brooks £22,274.17
4 Steve Surry £20,922.50
5 Simon Lilly £20,407.02
6 Jack Doherty £17,218.79
7 Paul Dwyer £16,455.00
8 James Busby £15,935.00
9 Elliot Saltman £14,383.57
10 Paul Maddy £14,374.49
11 Graeme Clark £14,245.00
12 Sandeep Grewal £12,031.00
13 Nicky Harris £10,341.83
14 James Ruebotham £9,714.99
15 Matthew Ford £9,662.30
Congratulations Lilly!!!
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