Bravo Escocia! Tartan trio in contention in Rolex Grand Final in Mallorca

After finishing eagle-par-par-birdie to turn what had been an extremely frustrating day into another good one in the HotelPlanner Tour’s season finale, first-round pacesetter Euan Walker is still out in front but now has four players for company on eight under par.

They include compatriot Daniel Young while David Law sits just one shot off the pace on a tightly-packed leaderboard. Young and Law have already secured DP World Tour cards for next season, ticking one of those boxes, and Walker, who started the week sitting 17th in the Road to Mallorca Rankings but is up to tenth in the projected rankings, is on course to also be among this year’s 20 graduates from the second-tier circuit.

Not since 2009, when Peter Whiteford achieved the feat at San Domenico in Italy, has a Scot triumphed in the Grand Final, but more of the same from Walker, Young and Law and there’s a chance that box might be ticked as well and even bigger one, perhaps, too.

The only Scottish player to have ever finished the season on what was formerly called the Challenge Tour as the No 1 was Marc Warren in 2005, but Law, having been third before a ball was struck in anger in the Balearics, is now up to second in the projected positions while Young has jumped from eighth to fifth.

“Yeah, it would be amazing,” admitted Law, who came home in 32 to sign for a second-round 68, of having teed up that opportunity, which would cap an admirable bounce-back season after losing his seat at the top table 12 months ago but knuckling down and arriving here with two wins under his belt this year. “At the start of the season, I probably wasn’t thinking about finishing first. It was just about finishing in the top 20 and getting my card back.

“But I’ve enjoyed my year. It’s been great for me to see how much the Hotel Planner Tour has come on in the seven years since I last played it. It’s nice to come back and play in some tournaments that I played in the past and also some new ones as well.”

Given he’s a past winner on the DP World Tour, having landed the ISPS Handa Vic Open in just his fifth start as a card holder in 2019, it would be no real surprise if Law finished top of the class this season. Twelve months ago, wife Natasha accompanied him when he made an unsuccessful visit to the DP World Tour Qualifying School Final Stage in Spain and Law is loving the fact this had already been teed up as a week when they would have something to celebrate together.

“It’s lovely to have Tash here this week,” said the Aberdonian, smiling. “This time last year it was just the two of us at Tour School and it’s a nicer vibe here this week, that’s for sure.”

Young, who, helped by picking up four birdies in a row and five in total, was also home in 32 as he signed for a second 68, is probably being cheered on by the biggest group of any of the 45 players in the field after his aunties and some long-time friends joined his parents Lesley and Ian and girlfriend Katy in making the journey to the Mediterranean island.

“My group of friends are all from Perth originally, but Paul McPhee is over from Florida and Stephen Bailey is over from Canada,” revealed Young. “They were a surprise to me and it is amazing to catch up with them. I didn’t know about my aunties coming over either. I was getting dragged to the hospitality tent at the 18th for a surprise after finishing my round on Thursday when I just wanted to get back to the hotel after being bitten to bits in the last few holes and wanting to get back to the air con in the hotel.”

As has been the case for the past three years, when he came up just short on each occasion in the season-long card battle, Walker is being followed every step of the way by his mum and dad Rona and Eric and, boy, did he put them through the mill - himself as well - before ending the day with reason to be smiling.

Standing two over for the day and in danger of slipping outside the top 20 in the projected rankings, he produced the shot of the day by hitting his drive to a few feet at the par-4 15th and rolled in the putt for a welcome eagle. He then followed good up and downs for pars at both the 16th and 17th with a closing birdie and, after signing for a 71, he sits alongside Young, as well as Dutchman Lars van Meijel, Italian Stefano Mazzoli and Frenchman Félix Mory.

“Yeah, I am really proud of myself,” admitted Walker, who’d only hit one poor shot in his opening 65, but, as so often happens in golf, found himself becoming more and more frustrated as putts simply refused to drop 24 hours later. “In many ways, my long game was as good as yesterday, but I just couldn’t get anything going.”

‘I’m in a great position’

Players often talk about needing a ‘spark’ and that was certainly how you’d describe his eagle. “It was a perfect yardage,” he said, smiling. “We calculated it as 284 yards and that’s about my driver distance. I said to Stephen Devlin (his caddie) before stepping on to the tee that ‘this is the eagle position today’ because it’s the only one I can hit it close to unless we are downwind a lot. I hit it absolutely perfect and landed a couple of yards shot of the hole.

“I thought to myself ‘I have to hole this now’ and it took me from having not really a great round back into contention and that was important. I made two good up and downs on 16 and 17 then made a nice birdie to finish. The last four holes could not have gone any better. I suspect there might be more frustration as that’s the nature of golf. But I’m in a great position.”

After a second straight 72 as he bids to jump from 26th into the top 20, Calum Fyfe needs to go low over the weekend, which, nonetheless, could be a memorable one for the tartan troops out in Mallorca.