Liam Nolan closed out his week with a three-under 69 but slides five places down the Road to Mallorca rankings with a T43 finish at the HotelPlanner Tour’s Hainan Open in China.
The Galway man had a frustrating first three days, making no shortage of birdies but unable to keep mistakes off the card, and, starting on the 10th, he got off to a fast start on the final day, reeling off three birdies in-a-row on 12, 13 and 14, before adding another on 17 to make the turn at -4 for the day.
A birdie on the first was an ideal start to his final nine holes, but unfortunately it was his last of the day, following with a bogey on the par-5 second and another on the par-4 seventh, leaving him at -3 for the day and -4 overall.
At the top of the leaderboard, Renato Paratore secured automatic promotion back to the DP World Tour after earning a third win of the season.
The Italian produced a dramatic birdie on the 72nd hole at Sanya Luhuitou Golf Club to force a play-off with clubhouse leader Maximilian Steinlechner, before going on to beat the Austrian on the first extra hole.
Starting the day three shots back of overnight leader Lars van Meijel, Paratore made six birdies, one eagle and two bogeys to sign for a six under par 66 and match Steinlechner’s total of 17-under-par.
Once the Austrian ran into trouble on the first play-off hole, Paratore produced a stress-free par to return to Golf’s Global Tour at the first time of asking.
“It’s been an amazing day,” he said. “Getting my third win of the year was important and the putt on 18 was an amazing feeling. It means a lot to secure promotion, and this is an amazing way to do it.
“It was really good to start well today and the eagle on the back nine helped me a lot. I knew I had to play well because the scoring was going to go low.”
During an up-and-down day in Sanya, with several players in contention at the top of the leaderboard, Paratore joined Steinlechner in a share of the lead thanks to an eagle of the par five 13th.
However, a bogey on the 17th left the Italian needing to hole his 25-foot birdie putt on the last and he was delighted to see his effort find the bottom of the cup.
“I knew it was tight at the end,” he added. “I wasn’t happy after the 17th, but I knew I was putting well. I made a good putt, and it was amazing to see it go in.
“Seeing that putt go in is what we work for. You always want to have a putt like that on the last and when I saw it go in it was an amazing emotion.”
Paratore rises three places to third on the season-long Road to Mallorca Rankings with Scotsman David Law and South African JC Ritchie occupying the top two spots.
With two events remaining on the 2025 Road to Mallorca, Paratore is eager to finish the season as Number One.
“The goal now is to finish as Number One,” he said. “I’ve moved closer to the two guys at the top after today, so I now want to finish on top of the Rankings.”
Frenchman Félix Mory finished the week in solo third on 15 under par, one shot clear of German Jan Schneider, Spaniard Sebastian Garcia and China’s Bai Khengkai.
The Road to Mallorca now heads to Westlake International Golf and Country Club for the second of back-to-back events in China at the Hangzhou Open, taking place from October 16-19.
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