Smith Up For The Challenge! - 25/10/2007

MARK SMITH has set his sights on Challenge Tour glory in 2006, after winning the 2005 PGA EuroPro Tour Order of Merit.

Smith produced a brilliant final round to take victory at the Oceanico Developments Tour Championship last week, with a back nine score of 29 on the final day seeing him seal a three-shot win.

The £20,000 first prize saw Smith become the first player in the history of the PGA EuroPro Tour to top £50,000 in a year, and he will now take a further step towards the top tier of European golf.

"I can't wait to get started now," said Smith. "It will probably be February by the time I play my next event but I can't wait to try and progress in that Order of Merit now.

"There are two ways onto the European Tour, through the Challenge Tour Order of Merit and the Tour School, so I've got two options next year.

"But it would be nice to do it through the Order of Merit on the Challenge Tour.

"It's been fantastic on the PGA EuroPro Tour. Without the tour there would only be the PGA Regions for players to develop, so the last four years I've been on the tour have held me in good stead.

"You can't play any other events for this type of money or under the same pressure in front of TV cameras."

As well as winning at Whittlebury Park in September, Smith had ten top-ten finishes during the year and ended the season with £54,877.99 in prize money.

"It's fantastic," he admitted. "I can't believe" target="_blank" "It's fantastic," he admitted. "I can't believe" target="_blank">www.europrotour.com/Images/smith_swing.jpg" width="200" align="left" vspace="2" border="0" /> "It's fantastic," he admitted. "I can't believe that.

"It's something you dream of at the start of the year, to win the Order of Merit, and it was something I had on my mind and a goal of mine so I'm chuffed to bits.

"I made a conscious effort to improve my putting at the start of the year and I think that has been the key all year.

"Holing those extra two or three putts has kept me up among the leaders or, most importantly, making the cut."

Smith carded a 63 for his final round at Palmares to take victory in the Tour Championship, and admitted: "I don't think I've ever played as well as that.

"I know everybody will say I could have done better and missed a couple of putts, lipped out here and there, but it's the best golf I've ever played."

His 29-shot back nine saw him move from among the challengers at -6 to five shots clear at one stage at -12.

The pivotal moment came when Smith was playing his second shot at the par four 16th, holing a five iron from 182 yards on the full to go out to -11.

"It had just started raining, so I immediately turned to put the club back in the bag after I played the shot," he" target="_blank" "It had just started raining, so I immediately turned to put the club back in the bag after I played the shot," he" target="_blank">www.europrotour.com/Images/smith_trophy.jpg" width="200" align="right" vspace="2" border="0" />"It had just started raining, so I immediately turned to put the club back in the bag after I played the shot," he said.

"The next thing I heard it hit the pin and the fans around the green were cheering. I could hardly believe it!"

Smith praised the Palmares staff and PGA officials, who helped to ensure the course was playable after torrential rain on the Algarve ahead of the event.

"Considering the rain we had at the start of the week I thought the course was in excellent shape," he said. "The hospitality at Palmares was first class.

"I'd also like to thank Oceanico Developments for sponsoring the event - without them we wouldn't have been playing for a £75,000 prize fund."