Ryan Ruffels missed a two-metre birdie putt that would have given him a great chance for his first professional win, but the young Australian continues to surge across the Americas.
Ruffels, taking advantage of a break in the PGA Latino Tour where he is fifth on the order of merit, finished tied-second, a shot back in the Mackenzie Tour’s Windsor Championship in Ontario, Canada.
With rounds of 68-63-67-66, Melburnian Ruffels, 20, hit it close at the last and had a great chance of tieing eventual winner Dawson Armstrong in the lead at 20-under.
But he pulled the putt left. “Devastated is an understatement,” he tweeted later. “Getting there slowly but surely. Breakthrough is just around the corner.”
Ruffels has had a good year on the Latino Tour, recovering some of the form that made him one of the world’s best amateurs.
But it is a long way from the depths of 2018 when he admitted he was hitting the ball badly and “scared” to play golf.
It was a mostly quiet weekend for Australians on the various tours.
Rod Pampling (56th), Curtis Luck (58th) and Jason Day (66th) did not threaten at the PGA Tour’s 3M Championship, although Luck at least made some cash and showed some good signs after a lull.
Wade Ormsby was 19th behind Spaniard Jon Rahm in the Irish Open on the European Tour.