Spanish golfer ngel Ayora was unable to secure his first professional title on Sunday at the DP World Tour Finals in Dubai, finishing eighth, nor did he earn a PGA Tour card for next season.
The consolation prize for Ayora, 21, considered the great hope of Spanish golf, was a spot in next year's British Open, which will be his debut in a major after just one season on the European Tour.
The Malaga native competed against the best European golfers throughout the four rounds, but couldn't clinch the victory, which went to Englishman Matt Fitzpatrick after he defeated Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy in a playoff. McIlroy, however, secured his seventh European Tour Player of the Year award by finishing first in the rankings.
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Besides winning on the Earth Course at Jumeirah Golf Estates, the Marbella native's other objective was to secure one of the ten PGA Tour cards up for grabs, but he finished twentieth in the Race to Dubai standings when he needed to reach sixteenth, as six players ahead of him had already secured their spots.
Ayora, results
He finished 344.5 points behind England's Jordan Smith, the last Spaniard to secure a spot in the world's most prestigious golf league, where no Spaniard has been a regular presence since Jon Rahm joined the LIV, the Saudi Arabian-backed tour, at the end of 2023.
By finishing among the top 25 in the European rankings, the Marbella native earned a place in the 154th edition of The British Open, to be held at the Royal Birkdale course in England next July, marking his debut in a major.
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Ayora entered the fourth round one stroke off the lead, shared by McIlroy and Denmark's Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen, and tied with several European golf stars, such as England's Tommy Fleetwood, the world number three, and Tyrrell Hatton, his starting partner for the final round.
On his first hole, he carded a birdie, demonstrating his determination to go all out, and repeated the feat on the seventh, allowing him to stay near the lead and fuel his hopes.
A bogey on the 11th hole, after a poor short putt from off the green that stalled, and another on the following hole hampered him, but he didn't give up.
He responded with three consecutive birdies between the 14th and 16th to close to within two strokes of the lead, and on the penultimate hole, he nearly made his fourth, but his ball came within a mere five centimeters.
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On the 18th, with the miracle still alive, the man from Malaga teed off bravely, but his tee shot was poor, and on his approach to the green from the rough, he put too much power into the ball, which ended up in the water, resulting in a bogey that dashed his hopes of victory and his PGA Tour card.
Ayora finished eighth in Dubai with a score of -14, four strokes behind the winner, tied with China's Haotong Li and Scotland's Robert MacIntyre.
