Lucan’s Richard O’Donovan pocketed his first EPD Tour cheque of the season when he closed with a five under 67 to finish tied eighth in the Ypsilon Cup in the Czech Republic.

The former East of Ireland winner missed his first four cuts of the year but on Friday he picked up €866 as he finished just six shots behind Germany’s Benedict Staben on three under par.

Scores

Staben shot rounds o f73, 66 and 68 to finish on nine under par and win by three strokes from compatriot Julian Kunzenbacher, Frenchman Antoine Schwartz and Switzerland’s Luca Galliano.

Stackstown’s Richard Bridges tied for 11th a shot further back on two under par despite holing little on the greens in a 70 while Reeve Whitson was tied 23rd on one over after a 74.

Stamens made €5,000 and earned 5,000 points to move up to fourth in the money list behind new leader Schwartz.

Rory McNamara is fifth with Whitson 46th, Bridges 57th and O’Donovan 72nd.

The next events, the first of three Austrian stops in a row, is the Haugschlag NÖ Open at Golfresort Haugschlag.