Paul Dunne will have to revert to Plan B if he is to earn a full tour card for next season on the PGA European Tour, after the 26-year-old Wicklow man – just over two years on from his breakthrough win at the British Masters – missed the cut at the Portugal Masters in Vilamoura, the final tournament of the regular season.
A wild swing off the tee on the Par 5 12th hole – which led to a triple-bogey eight – summed up Dunne’s plight with the driver as he fought to retain his card.
However, another missed cut, Dunne’s sixth straight time to miss out on weekend play going back to a horrible run which started at the BMW PGA at Wentworth, meant his fate was sealed and he must now head to final qualifying school if Spain next month if he is to regain his full playing rights.
Dunne was 118th on the Race to Dubai order of merit at the start of the Portugal Masters and needed to move inside the top 117 to retain his full card. His latest missed cut, though, has him projected to fall back to 124th when the standings are updated on Sunday when the tournament is completed, with England's Olvier Fisher holding the halfway lead on 12-under-par 130.
A second round 74 for 145, three over, left Dunne well short of achieving his objective. He was one under, and inside the cut, standing on the 12th tee where he pushed his drive out-of-bounds and ran up a triple bogey which was compounded two holes later by a bogey.
Dunne’s driving has proved to be his Achilles heel for much of the season, and he will now need to rectify that area of his game before he gets to Lumine in Tarragona for the Q-School which takes place on November 15th-20th.
Another Irish player headed to Q-School will be Gavin Moynihan, who was forced to withdraw from the tournament – on the 16th hole of his second round – due to a back injury. After his withdrawal, the Dubliner tweeted: “Back pain at the end of yesterday’s round worsened today. Tough having WD after 16 holes. Pain was sore and very uncomfortable. Lots of physio needed over the next few days to prep for Q School.”
It proved to be a hugely disappointing tournament for all four Irish players in the field, with Pádraig Harrington and Michael Hoey also failing to survive the cut.
Fisher – who shot the first ever 59 on the European Tour at the same stage of the tournament last year – fired a second-round 65 for 130 to hold a one-stroke lead over Korean Jeunghun Wang and South African Justin Walters. Fisher included two eagles in his round, holing out with his approach to the fourth and then hitting his approach to four feet on the Par 5 17th.
“It’s not often that you hit it thin that it lands on the green like that,” said an honest Fisher of that approach to the 17th, where he took full advantage of his good fortune by rolling in the eagle putt.
LEADERBOARD
British and Irish unless stated, par 71, (a) denotes amateur
130 Oliver Fisher 65 65
131 Jeunghun Wang (Kor) 66 65, Justin Walters (Rsa) 65 66
132 Brandon Stone (Rsa) 66 66
133 Haydn Porteous (Rsa) 68 65, Eddie Pepperell 67 66, Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 66 67
134 George Coetzee (Rsa) 69 65
135 Tiago Cruz (Por) 69 66, Adrien Saddier (Fra) 67 68, Dean Burmester (Rsa) 70 65, Jamie Donaldson 68 67, Jack Singh Brar 67 68, Tom Lewis 69 66, Louis De Jager (Rsa) 63 72
136 Steven Brown 69 67, Renato Paratore (Ita) 66 7, Pablo Larrazabal (Esp) 70 66
137 Adri Arnaus (Esp) 68 69, Matt Wallace 67 70, Ashley Chesters 67 70, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 67 70, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Esp) 68 69, Joachim B. Hansen (Den) 69 68, Robert Rock 68 69, Tapio Pulkkanen (Fin) 68 69, Jake McLeod (Aus) 65 72, Jordan Smith 69 68
138 Ricardo Gouveia (Por) 70 68, Shubhankar Sharma (Ind) 67 71, Hugo Leon (Chi) 69 69, Sam Horsfield 67 71, Kalle Samooja (Fin) 68 70, Chris Paisley 69 69
139 Sihwan Kim (Kor) 66 73, Ross Fisher 70 69, Matthieu Pavon (Fra) 72 67, Oliver Wilson 70 69, Alexander Bjork (Swe) 68 71, David Horsey 66 73, Guido Migliozzi (Esp) 71 68, Ryan Fox (Nzl) 72 67, Richard McEvoy 70 69, Mikko Korhonen (Fin) 72 67, David Borda (Esp) 71 68, Matthew Southgate 66 73, Kristian Krogh Johannessen (Nor) 70 69, Marc Warren 71 68, Adrian Otaegui (Esp) 70 69, Bradley Dredge 71 68
140 Anton Karlsson (Swe) 68 72, Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 71 69, Kristoffer Reitan (Nor) 73 67, Joakim Lagergren (Swe) 69 71, Nick Cullen (Aus) 70 70, Tomas Santos Silva (Por) 72 68, Liam Johnston 70 70, Andy Sullivan 68 72, Romain Wattel (Fra) 68 72, Tom Murray 69 71, Nicolai Hojgaard (Den) 70 70, Lee Westwood 68 72
141 Chris Wood 69 72, Niklas Lemke (Swe) 69 72, Jacques Kruyswijk (Rsa) 69 72, Robert Karlsson (Swe) 68 73, Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 70 71, Paul Lawrie 72 69, Bernd Ritthammer (Ger) 72 69, Min Woo Lee (Aus) 72 69
MISSED CUT
142 Ben Evans 70 72, Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 72 70, Hideto Tanihara (Jpn) 69 73, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 71 71, Jeff Winther (Den) 72 70, Stephen Gallacher 68 74, Alejandro Canizares (Esp) 67 75, Lorenzo Gagli (Ita) 69 73, John Catlin (USA) 68 74, Yusaku Miyazato (Jpn) 69 73, Dimitrios Papadatos (Aus) 71 71
143 David Law 71 72, Max Schmitt (Ger) 74 69, Maximilian Kieffer (Ger) 71 72, Tomas Guimaraes Bessa (Por) 74 69
144 Lucas Bjerregaard (Den) 67 77, Deyen Lawson (Aus) 74 70, David Drysdale 72 72, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 67 77, Filippo Bergamaschi (Ita) 73 71, Joao Carlota (Por) 70 74, Max Orrin 69 75
145 David Howell 69 76, Espen Kofstad (Nor) 72 73, Callum Shinkwin 71 74, Grant Forrest 70 75, (a) Daniel Rodrigues (Por) 70 75, Daniel Gavins 73 72, Paul Dunne 71 74, Sam Brazel (Aus) 76 69, Alexander Levy (Fra) 69 76
146 Miguel Gaspar (Por) 74 72, Tomas Gouveia (a) (Por) 72 74, Stuart Manley 74 72, Nacho Elvira (Esp) 73 73, Nino Bertasio (Ita) 70 76
147 Eduardo De La Riva (Esp) 74 73, Alvaro Quiros (Esp) 76 71, Lee Slattery 72 75, Pádraig Harrington 73 74
148 Steve Webster 72 76, Clement Sordet (Fra) 73 75, Jens Dantorp (Swe) 73 75, Michael Hoey 70 78
149 Ivan Cantero Gutierrez (Esp) 78 71, Pedro Cruz Silva (a) (Por) 74 75, Matthew Nixon 75 74, Pedro Figueiredo (Por) 73 76, Joel Girrbach (Swi) 70 79, Scott Gregory 76 73
150 Rikard Karlberg (Swe) 72 78
151 Per Langfors (Swe) 75 76
152 Hyo-won Park (Kor) 73 79, Michael Campbell (Nzl) 76 76
156 Matteo Manassero (Ita) 83 73
Retd: Gavin Moynihan 74
DQ: Hideto Tanihara
