Simple for Simon

Simon Thornton made good use of his week off from the European Tour by winning the £9,500 City of Culture Pro-am Tournament at City of Derry.

Thornton, winner of the recent St Omer Open, carded a three-under-par 68 on Saturday to be joint third, trailing overnight leader Colm Moriarty by three shots but he posted a sizzling 65 24 hours later to soar to the top of the leaderboard.

The winner made just one mistake and he got rid of that at the second hole where he carded bogey five but a hat-trick of birdies from the sixth laid the platform for success. He was two-under 34 for the front nine and covered the homeward run in four-under 31. Birdie threes at 10, 16 and 18, with a two squeezed in at 15, did the trick.

Thornton’s 133 was a shot better than Moriarty’s total of 134 as he added a 69 to his opening 65.

Bushfoot pro David Jones turned the clock back to his days as an amateur, and later as an assistant to Michael Doherty, at the Prehen club by firing a course record bogey-free 64, as he finished fifth on 137. Jones pencilled in seven birdies in his record round, with a four at the long third hole and birdie threes at five, six and nine.

On the back stretch, Jones clipped a shot off the short 15th hole and made back-to-back birdie threes at 17 and 18.