He threw everything he had at trying to win the DP World Tour’s Horizon Irish Open on Sunday, and, in the end Thriston Lawrence’s five-under-par 67 left him just short as he eventually finished third.

Lawrence, the winner of the rain-shortened Joburg Open which opened up the DP World Tour 2022 season, set off in pursuit of victory with a birdie on the first, but he soon had to deal with the after-effects of a double-bogey five on the par-three third when he hit his tee shot into the water.

He overcame that admirably with a birdie on four, and then made three in a row from the seventh. When he picked up two more shots on 11^th and 12^th, victory looked distinctly possible. But he bogeyed 15 with a three-putt from just over 50 feet.

He got his quest going again with birdies on 15 and 17. But he short-sided himself in a greenside bunker to the left of 18 while, quite justifiably, firing at the pin, and was only able to put his shot out nearly 28 feet past the pin. The two putts saw him close with a disappointing bogey.

He finished a good week on 16-under-par, and that was eventually four shots off the score set by the first Polish winner on the DP World Tour, Adrian Meronk. He won by three from New Zealand’s Ryan Fox.

Next best of the South Africans was Oliver Bekker, who also closed with a five-under 67 to climb 21 places on the leaderboard into a share of 16^th on 10-under.

Justin Walters signed off with a three-under 69 to go to nine-under and a share of 20^th. Brandon Stone had a one-under 71 and was in a share of 46^th on five-under. Zander Lombard was the last of the South Africans to make the cut, and he carded a two-over 74 to finish in a share of 76^th on two-over.