David Drysdale's agony turns to joy as he heads to Sun City

David Drysdale tees off on the first hole of his final round. Picture: Richard Heathcote/Getty Images

The former Dunbar assistant pro thought he’d missed out on a place in this week’s Nedbank Challenge, the second of the European Tour’s Final Series, after seeing a seven-foot birdie putt spin out of the hole at the last in Belek. But, as headed to Antalya airport, Drysdale got a phone call to say that, by climbing nine spots to 83rd in the Race to Dubai rankings, he had secured the last of the 78 spots in the Sun City event.

A closing 71 for a nine-under-par 275 at the Regnum Carya resort left Drysdale in joint-13th, earning the 41-year-old just over £85,000, and he’s now got another chance to earn some serious money as the Nedbank Challenge also carries a £5.7million prize pot.

“I’m disappointed to play as average as I did today,” he admitted. “I missed a lot of putts from around three to four feet and the one at the last was certainly sore. It’s a decent finish, but I just didn’t putt well enough.

“Thankfully, though, I’ve made it to Sun City and I’m absolutely delighted about that, especially as I’ve played there before in the Dimension Data Pro-Am on the Sunshine Tour.”

Capital-based Richie Ramsay described his closing effort – a 74 that dropped him 30 spots to joint-52nd behind Danish winner Thorbjorn Olesen – as “rubbish”. He added: “I’ve cost myself a barrowload of money.”