St Leonards talent nets best tour result

Luke Cornford secured the highest finish of his career on the PGA EuroPro Tour

Representing Cooden Beach Golf Club, the St Leonards-based player finished tied fourth in The Lookers Championship at the Close House golf resort in Northumberland.

Cornford produced a tremendous turnaround to complete the 54-hole event in a five-under-par total of 208 and move into the top 30 on the season-long order of merit.

The 29-year-old was down in a tie for 111th after a four-over-par opening round of 76, which contained four birdies, two bogeys and three double bogeys, although in truth he played better than the score suggests.

The undulating Lee Westwood-designed course - which will host next year’s British Masters on the European Tour - was certainly challenging, but Cornford soared into the top 15 courtesy of a bogey-free five-under-par second round 67.

He rose a further 11 places on the back of a final round 68, which featured birdies at the fifth, sixth, ninth, 12th and 15th after a solitary bogey at the fourth.

Cornford’s all-round game was very good, but key to his rapid rise up the leaderboard was his strong iron play and putting.

He will be back in action at the next EuroPro Tour event, the World Snooker Golf Masters at Army Golf Club in Hampshire, which gets under way today (Wednesday).

The top 60 on the order of merit will qualify for the season-ending Tour Championship - Desert Springs in Almeria, after which the leading five players will advance to the European Challenge Tour for 2017.

Cornford finished 52nd in last year’s rankings after securing top 20 finishes in the final two events of the campaign.

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