Three bogeys on his homeward nine stymied Bryce Easton’s efforts on Sunday to go for the victory in the European Tour’s Mallorca Golf Open at Golf Santa Ponsa in the Balearic Islands, Spain.
Easton carded a closing round of level-par 70 to finish the tournament on 10-under-par, five shots behind the winner Jeff Winther of Denmark, who rode his third round of eight-under 62 to a closing 70 and a one-stroke maiden European Tour victory over Pep Angles, Jorge Campillo and Sebastian Soderberg.
After an opening nine which included two birdies, Easton, as he did in his third round, battled to match the scoring he achieved in his opening round when he carded a seven-under 63. He dropped shots on 10, 11 and 16, and, although he made a birdie on the 17th, he was just not quite as in the hunt as he would have liked.
The upshot for him is that he was only able to climb 18 places to 177th on the Race to Dubai rankings, and he was unable to get into next week’s Portugal Masters. That’s the last tournament on the schedule ahead of the season-closing AVIV Dubai Championship, so he will have to use the Challenge Tour again next year to attempt to play his way into the bigger leagues.
Jacques Kruyswijk closed with a four-under 66 to finish on seven-under in a share of 16th. He is 116th on the Race to Dubai list, so is in line to retain his European Tour card for 2022. Louis de Jager had a 67 to finish on five-under in 26th. He’s in 163rd in the rankings and will not retain his playing privileges on the European Tour, and Zander Lombard is 164th after a closing one-over 71 left him in 26th too.
