In a fraught final round on Sunday, Jovan Rebula probably lost out on his DP World Tour card when he bogeyed the 17th hole in the HotelPlanner Tour’s Rolex Grand Final at Club de Golf Alcanada, in Port d’Alcúdia, Mallorca, Spain.

But, in truth, it was a grind all day for the 28-year-old South African nephew of Ernie Els: He started promisingly with a birdie on the first, but he bogeyed the second in a pattern he seemed doomed to repeat all day, on a day when he probably needed perhaps one or two better than his closing one-under-par 71 to get himself from the 22nd place on the Road to Mallorca rankings into the top 20 to ensure himself of promotion to the main tour.

He birdied the third, but he made two more bogeys on the front nine, with a third birdie, on the seventh, between those two dropped shots, seeing him turn in level-par 36. All good if you’re going to produce some gains down the stretch, as you should be doing in any tournament.

He picked up two shots on the 12th and 13th, and, at that stage, he was projected to rise to 20th on the rankings, which would have sealed his playing status for next season. But he bogeyed the 17th, and that projection changed to 21st, agonisingly just one stroke short of where he needed to be.

And with players ahead of him on the final-round leaderboard unlikely to falter enough to give him a lifeline, he looked likely to have to rely on a limited number of starts on the main tour for next year based on finishing inside the top 30 on the HotelPlanner Tour, which should secure him DPWT Category 20.

He finished on seven-under-par in a share of 11th, when somewhere inside the top 10 would have been more productive.

For Wilco Nienaber, there was similar heartbreak, as he slipped from inside the top 30, from 29th to 32nd, as his uninspired tournament came to an end with a final round of level-par 72. That took him to one-over for the week, and a share of 31st in the 45-man field.