Liam Johnston ends miserable run of results to land second Challenge Tour win

Liam Johnston ended two years of misery in spectacular fashion by landing his second Challenge Tour triumph with an impressive victory on Spanish soil.

Having moved into contention in the Emporda Challenge in Girona with middle rounds of 65 and 64, the 29-year-old Dumfries man secured a €40,000 top prize with a closing 67.

Helped by an eagle and two birdies on the last lap at Emporda Golf, he finished with a 13-under-par total, winning by two shots from England’s Todd Clements (65).

Johnston was flying high as he landed a breakthrough win on the second-tier circuit in the Kazakhstan Open in 2018, when he joined Grant Forrest, Bob MacIntyre and David Law in graduating to the main tour.

But this latest success came right out of the blue, having gone into the event on the back of six successive missed cuts, including the Farmfoods Scottish Challenge at Newmachar.

“Yeah, it is pretty good,” he declared before quickly adding. “No, it’s not pretty good - it’s incredible, it’s unbelievable.

“It’s been a couple of really hard years for me and, even at the start of this year, it’s been tough. But I’ve just been persevering and working hard and I’m glad that it has finally come to fruition.”

The 2017 African Amateur and Scottish Stroke-Play champion, who started the day one behind Swede Jens Dantrop, reeled off seven straight pars before following birdies at the eighth and tenth with a timely eagle-3 at the 12th.

He led by three shots before dropping his only shot of the round at the 17th, but it was job done as he signed off with a solid par-4 on a hole with lots of potential trouble.

“To be honest, I didn’t look at a single leaderboard all week until the 18th tee,” said Johnston, who is part of Paul Lawrie’s Five Star Sports