Matt Cooper with his final report and conclusions from the Challenge Tour Grand Final in Dubai.
Matt Cooper with his final report and conclusions from the Challenge Tour Grand Final in Dubai
Remember Shiv Kapur? For a few hours he was the talk of the 2013 Open Championship, as he briefly (albeit dramatically) led the field at Muirfield during round one.
And in a complicated year - in which he has played on the Asian, Challenge, European and PGA Tours - that fleeting moment in the Scottish sun threatened to be the highlight of his season.
But, in winning the Dubai Festival City Grand Final at Al Badia GC, Kapur has not only neatly book-ended the Challenge Tour season (he won the first event of the schedule, the Kensville Challenge in February, as well as the last), but also guaranteed a return to the European Tour in 2014 - a performance of note that trumps the cameo.
His final day effort was a superbly measured example of ball-striking which included not one dropped shot. He made two birdies and had plenty of opportunities to make more, but instead made simple par after simple par, never once looking like relinquishing the four shot lead he began and ended the round with.
It made quite a contrast with his blistering start to the Open back in July when, by curious chance I found myself following his group from the first tee late on Thursday afternoon. The focus of my attention that day was Frenchman Gregory Bourdy, but it was the 31-year-old Indian who stole the show, making birdie on six of the first seven holes to hit the top of the leaderboard.
A double bogey on the tenth ultimately derailed his challenge, but he had enjoyed his brief experience in the spotlight and was well aware that the golfing world's media attention was on him at the time.
"Oh yeah," he laughed earlier during Grand Final week, "I knew I was on television and that I was leading. The crowds were buzzing and my family, who were following me, were excited. In fact I have a photograph my myself in front of a big yellow Open leaderboard, with my name at the top. It was a great moment in my career and I am very proud of it.
"I think the maddest thing was that I had watched the coverage earlier in the day and I saw Zach Johnson was something like four-under-par through five holes and I thought, 'How can anyone do that on this course?!'
"And then a few hours later I was six under through seven and laughing at the memory."
Four months later, with a European Tour card on offer, Kapur had a differently policy: he wasn't looking for birdies; he was avoiding errors.
"I knew today was going to be hard. I just had to stick to my game plan to keep mistakes off my card. I'm very proud of myself to shoot a bogey-free round and once I did that the pressure was on the rest of the guys so I'm extremely happy.
"I have had five or six professional wins but given the circumstances and everything leading up to the week it's right up there with the best of them."
Last man in
Challenge Tour Grand Final is not just about the winner: it's also about the other 14 men who leave the premises clutching (albeit metaphorically) European Tour cards and it is more or less guaranteed that one of them will earn it in gut-wrenching style.
This year that man was Scotland's Jamie McLeary who shot a final round three-under-par 69 to claim joint second place, which proved just enough to pinch the 15th card.
Discussing his score afterwards the 32-year-old admitted to having slightly misjudged the scoring on the par-five final hole. He
