Kent’s Benn Barham came agonisingly close to securing a place on the European Tour, but was just two shots from qualifying.

The 35 year old from Tenterden went into the sixth and final round on Thursday knowing he needed to score well to stand any chance of making it into the top thirty and he didn’t disappoint, hitting a two under par seventy, but it wasn’t to be enough as he finished on five under par for the six rounds in Catalunya, Spain.

Barham finished tied in 41st place, two shots behind the top thirty seven players who have secured themselves a place on the European Tour.

All players who finished outside the top 37 but played the full six rounds are awarded full membership of the Challenge Tour and conditional membership for certain European Tour events – while players who missed the four-round cut gain conditional membership of the Challenge Tour.

Therefore, Barham and Francis McGuirk from Deal will be awarded membership of the Challenge Tour after McGuirk finished his six rounds on three over par, whilst Matt Ford from Maidstone will be gain conditional membership for the Challenge Tour after finishing his four rounds on nine over par.