Rhys Enoch opened with a round of 77 on the European Challenge Tour’s Andalucía Costa del Sol Match Play 9 in Spain and then improved to 72 on his second round – but still couldn’t make the cut a week on from his heroics at the US Open at Pebble Beach.

That left him on +7, 12 shots behind the leader after two rounds, Spain’s Sebastian Garcia Rodriguez.

Fellow Welshman David Boote fared a little better, shooting rounds of 70 and 71 to make the final two days.

Boote then lost when the format switched to nine-hole match play – going out to Eirik Tage Johansen.

The unusual format of the event is comprised of 36 holes of stroke play with the top 64 players making it through to the weekend – where they compete in a series of nine-hole match play battles for a share of the €200,000 prize fund.

On Saturday the opening knockout rounds were played on both the front nine and back nine. While Sunday sees the quarter finals, semi-finals and final all contested on the front nine.