Stephen Gallacher just misses out on Arizona spot

STEPHEN Gallacher's brave bid to earn a place in the Accenture Match Play event in Arizona in a fortnight's time has fallen just short despite his third top-15 finish on this season's Middle East Swing.

Fourth in Bahrain and 12th in Qatar, the former Dunhill Links champion maintained his promising start to the year by finishing in a tie for 10th in Dubai, where a closing 71 left him alongside Rory McIlroy and ahead of the top three players in the world. It was another splendid performance from Gallacher but, frustratingly for the Scot, not quite good enough to get a place in the opening World Golf Championship event of the season.

Lying 74th in the world rankings heading into the Dubai Desert Classic, he needed to secure a top-7 finish to jump the ten spots he required but fell two shots short of achieving that target. After a month in the Middle East, Gallacher will now take a break before reappearing in next month's Andalucia Masters in Malaga, the opening event of the season in mainland Europe.

A closing 71 saw Marc Warren finish alongside Tiger Woods in a tie for 20th but he has secured a fourth invite of the year in this week's Avantha Masters in India, where he will also be joined by Richie Ramsay, who shot a second successive 73 to end up in a tie for 31st. Dubai-based Ross Bain also closed with a 73 to finish just inside the top 50, with David Drysdale dropping down to a tie for 59th after a 77.