Sport

The strife of Brian

March 25th, 2019 9:00 AM

By Southern Star Team

Bandon's Brian O'Donovan narrowly missed out on a place at the Volvo China Open after the two-day International Qualifying event in Guangzhou.

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Bandon golfer misses out on China Open by one shot

Bandon golfer misses out on China Open by one shot

 

DESPITE hitting 14 birdies over two days Bandon golfer Brian O’Donovan missed out on a place in the 2019 Volvo China Open by just one shot.

The West Cork man was chasing a top-three spot at the Guangzhou Nansha International Qualifying event at Nansha Golf Club that would have guaranteed a place in The European Tour-sanctioned tournament in early May.

O’Donovan (31) carded a 67 (-3) on day one over the Valley Course and followed it up with a second round 68 (-2) to finish in a three-way tie for fourth place on five-under (135).

But despite seven birdies on day two, O’Donovan missed out on a place at the China Open by just one shot. He was forced to watch from the clubhouse as Chien Po Lee (-10), Andreas Gronkvist (-8) and Lu Sen Lien (-6) secured the coveted invites to the RMB 20 million Volvo China Open.  

‘A pretty good round but again too many little mistakes,’ O’Donovan said. 

‘I doubled the second to be plus-two after two but then had four birdies to go two-under after nine. I’ve made 14 birdies over two days, which is a ridiculous amount but that’s the way it is at times. There was far more good than bad out there.

‘I tend to be quite an aggressive player so I kind of accept I’m going to pick up bogeys but it’s never nice when it happens. I putted well over the two days and I was quite relaxed as I didn’t have anything to lose. I played aggressively and only made two bad swings over 36 holes but unfortunately, they cost me shots. That’s golf. It happens.’

After narrowly missing out, O’Donovan will go back to his day job as teaching pro at Mission Hills Shenzhen. He moved to China from West Cork in 2013 and last year secured his tour card for the PGA Tour China. 

‘It would have been nice to qualify for the Volvo China Open in Shenzhen but maybe I’ll take the Academy students up there during tournament week instead,’ he added.

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