Strong finish gives Turner season’s best finish in Ireland

The Alford professional golfer rocketed up the leaderboard into a tie for sixth place after a closing round of 69 at Wicklow.

It was his third top-10 finish of the season on the PGA EuroPro Tour, but his first since May when he followed an eighth place finish with seventh in the opening two tour events.

Turner, an honorary member at Kenwick Park Golf Club, fired five birdies in the opening roudn before putting the only bogey on his card at the last to finish with a four-under par 68 which left him tied-fifth.

He rattled in another five birdies the following day, but par fours proved his achilles heel as he bogeyed five of them to record a level-par 72, dropping him down the leaderboard to 12th.

Turner started Saturday’s final 18 holes with a bang, making back-to-back birdies at the first two.

He gave one back at the fifth, but then picked up his third birdie of the front nine at the ninth.

Another shot went at the next hole, but Turner responded brilliantly with a run of three straight birdies from the 13th, before a final bogey at 16.

His three-under-par 69 was the fourth-best score of the day, and brought him within five shots of tournament winner Marco Penge.

The result lifted the 23-year-old up to 26th in the overall Order of Merit with the top 60 qualifying for the season-ending Tour Championships in Spain.