Slattery’s late slip costs top 10 finish

Apr 8 2008 by Richard Williamson, Liverpool Daily Post

LEE SLATTERY suffered a late lapse to rule himself out of a top 10 finish at the Portuguese Open.

The Formby Hall golfer had produced some of his best rounds of the season to lie in fifth spot going into the final day.

Two birdies to offset one bogey on the front nine had put him on course for a share of ninth before dropped shots at both 17 and 18 saw him slip down the leaderboard to a finishing position of 20th.

Slattery closed with a round of one-over-par 72 to go with earlier efforts of 66, 68, 68 for a 10-under-par total of 274.

His opening round was flawless with five birdies and no bogeys while day two saw only a dropped shot on the fifth to go with four more birdies.

Highlight of day three was an eagle three at the 500-yard par five seventh.

Slattery, the 2004 European Challenge Tour order of merit winner, still picked up his highest finish since his runners-up spot in his first event of the season, the Alfred Dunhill Championship in South Africa in December.

Slattery is 74th on the European Order of Merit with 115,554 euros from his eight starts.

There was further disappointment for Paul Waring, who has suffered a number of setbacks in his rookie year on the main tour.

Having gone all the way to Indonesia for the Enjoy Jakarta Astro Indonesia Open in February only to pick up an injury as he launched his opening round, last week it was his clubs that were the problem at the Andalucia Open.

They went missing for two days, leaving him no time to practice the course, and only turned up in time for him to compete, where he not surprisingly missed the cut.

In Portugal he was on course to make the halfway cut only to drop a shot at the 18th and miss out by one. Waring was still one under par for his two rounds after returning 73, 68. That has left the Bromborough player in 158th on the Order of Merit from six events with 31,767 euros.

Birchwood’s Phillip Archer also missed out in Portugal after rounds of 70, 72 and now lies in 80th in the rankings with 107,084 euros from 11 starts.

Liverpool’s Nick Dougherty, in America preparing for his debut in the US Masters this week, is 49th on the Order of Merit with 168,093 euros from seven appearances and still occupies a qualifying position for the Ryder Cup team.

Meanwhile, former Cheshire county player David Horsey completed an impressive couple of weeks in Argentina for the Challenge Tour’s visit to South America.

After finishing sixth at the 77 Abierto VISA del Centro 2008 in Cordoba, he went even better at the Abierto VISA de la Republica presentado por Peugeot in Buenos Aires, coming home in fifth after rounds of 69, 68, 67, 72 for a four-under-par 276. That has left him in 23rd on the Order of Merit with 5,760 euros.

This week the Challenge Tour visits Colombia.