Hampshire’s Darren Wright shot a level-par final round to win the PGA EuroPro Tour’s Kerry London Championship at Burhill Golf Club by one stroke from Ireland’s Alan Dunbar.
After impressive opening rounds of 68 and 67, Wright lead by two shots going into the final round of the 54-hole tournament, and was five clear early on after birdies at two of the first five holes on Burhill’s New Course.
That early advantage soon evaporated though, as Wright, who is attached to Golf at Goodwood, dropped shots at six, eight and 13, while Craig Farrelly moved to five under with an eagle at the 11th to join Dunbar, who had birdied nine and ten and 13, at the top of the leaderboard.
Farrelly slipped two back after bogeys at 15 and 16, and finished the tournament in third, while Wright rejoined Dunbar at nine under with a birdie at 16, and the Irishman dropped out of a share of the lead when he bogeyed the 17th.
Both parred the last, leaving Wright to collect the trophy, a cheque for £10,000, plus a brand new Motocaddy trolley, Bushnell Tour X range finder, Bolle sunglasses and £500 to spend with sponsors HotelPlanner.com.
“I was pretty confident at the start of the day,” said Wright. “I have been playing really good golf and making a lot of birdies, the odd eagle, and have been putting really well. On these pure greens, if you get it starting on line, you have a good chance to hole some putts.”
Wright, who recently joined Goodwood to shake things up after years at Rowlands Castle, added: You see a lot of guys who get that one win and then they are off. Hopefully I can follow this up with some more decent results. Once you get over the line and win your first big event it hopefully makes it a bit easier.”