Malaysian No 1 Gavin Green reaped the benefits of a revamped swing with a joint seventh finish in the Aphrodite Hills Cyprus Showdown, moving up five places into 38th spot on the European Tour’s Race To Dubai season rankings.
Gavin closed with a 68 at the par-71 PGA National Cyprus Course of Aphrodite Hills Resort yesterday to share seventh place with France’s Alexander Levy, each player picking up a cheque for €27,750. The €1 million event featured a novel elimination format instead of the standard 36-hole cut for the 105-player field. The leading 32 players and ties at the halfway stage progressed to the third round but without their scores carried forward, so everyone started from scratch. The top 16 players and ties then made it through to the final round, for which the scores were reset again.
Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre birdied the last two holes for a stunning final round of seven-under-par 64, claiming his first European Tour title by a solitary stroke over Japan’s Masahiro Kawamura. Spaniard Jorge Campillo finished third with a closing 66, one shot ahead of Belgian Thomas Detry, England’s Callum Shinkwin and American Johannes Veerman.
Opening with a 70, Gavin followed up with a superb 66 to make it on the bubble to the weekend. A birdie-birdie finish in the third round for a 68 sealed his place in the final 18.
Last week, the long-hitting Malaysian had missed the cut in the Aphrodite Hills Cyprus Open at the same course, having only got to Cyprus the day before the event due to an entry permit issue. Prior to that, he took two weeks off due to a wrist injury and spent some time in Dubai working on a few swing refinements with coach Chris O’Connell.
Following a one-week break, Gavin heads to South Africa for three events in a row – the Joburg Open, Alfred Dunhill Championship and South African Open – before the season-ending DP World Tour Championship in Dubai. The 27-year-old is already on course for his best season so far on the European Tour despite the abbreviated schedule.
