Brooks into top 10 despite rain wrecking Hydro (From Echo)

Brooks into top 10 despite rain wrecking Hydro

5:10pm Tuesday 26th June 2012 in Golf By James Colasanti

DANIEL Brooks moved into the top 10 of the Challenge Tour’s rankings with a tied fourth-place finish at a rain-blighted Scottish Hydro Challenge.

The 25-year-old from Basildon might have done even better and picked up his first-ever tournament win had the poor weather not wiped out the final day’s play.

Brooks led the competition after Thursday’s opening round and was just two shots off the lead heading into that final round on Sunday.

But heavy rain forced the tournament to be reduced to 54 holes with a play-off between Sam Walker and Simon Wakefield to decide the winner.

Walker won after a dramatic three holes on the 18th hole at the Macdonald Spey Valley Golf Club in Aviemore.

It meant that Brooks, a member of Mill Hill golf club, who also practices at Langdon Hills, had to settle for the tied fourth position he held after three rounds of 64, 72 and 67.

That landed him 11,000 euros in prize money and saw him move up seven places to seventh in the rankings, from which the top 20 at the end of the season will earn a coveted place on next season’s European Tour.

Brooks said: “At the start of the week I would have taken that place, so I can’t really complain.

“Obviously it would have been nice to have had a real go at winning it, but there are no guarantees.

“It is one of those courses where you can shoot a few under, but then you can also have a really bad day.

“But the important thing is I’ve picked up some good money again and that is what I need to keep doing to stay right up there.”

Brooks will now travel to Italy to compete in the Challenge Provincia di Varese at the Golf Club Varese in Luvinate, which gets underway tomorrow.

Brooks has been in the form of his life recently, his best result of the season coming courtesy of a runner-up finish at the Kärnten Golf Open presented by Mazda two weeks ago.

Thorpe Hall’s Matt Southgate missed the cut in Scotland after rounds of 71 and 77.

But Southgate’s club-mate Richard McEvoy finished 54th and picked up a handy 6,500 euros at the European Tour’s BMW International Open in Cologne, Germany.