Gary Lockerbie ready for the final Challenge Tour showdown in Italy
Gary Lockerbie finished tied for the 46th position at last week’s Crowne Plaza Copenhagen Challenge, hosted by Royal Golf Club, and dropped from the first position to the third spot in the European Challenge Tour Rankings.
This week, he still has a chance to end his season on top of the rankings, by recording a strong finish at the season-ending Apulia San Domenico Grand Final in southern Italy.
The €330,000 tournament will be played at the San Domenico Golf course, featuring the top-45 players in the standings.
The tournament will witness a number of players contending for the top spot in the money list, while others will be eyeing a top-20 finish to the season, in order to earn their European Tour cards.
Lockerbie, who remained on top of the rankings for most of the season, does not care much about leading the money list. In fact, he is happy to earn his European Tour card, which he lost in 2010.
Talking to the European Challenge Tour’s website, he stated that he has already achieved his target of making it to the bigger stage. Therefore, he will not be under any pressure, entering the final showdown of the season.
According to him, the players who are lying just outside or inside the top-20 will be feeling the real pressure.
According to the European Tour’s qualifying policy, the top-20 players from the Challenge Tour will receive automatic exemptions to play on the bigger stage next season.
All the other players will have to participate in the qualifying school, in order to earn their full-time playing cards.
“It would be nice to finish top, but I’ve done what I needed to do this year already,” said the 29-year-old. “It’s going to be a bit of a shoot-out because it’s very close at the top with four of us separated by not very much money”.
He added, “There’s a lot of money to play for this week as well, but I think we’re probably all of the same opinion that we’ve secured our cards for next year and that’s the job done. It takes a lot of the pressure off us”.
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