RICHARD McEvoy said he felt a mixture of delight and relief at retaining his European Tour place with a sensational third-place in South Africa... and then revealed he felt he could have won it!

The Thorpe Hall professional overcame one of the biggest challenges of his career to claim his largest purse of the season to maintain his place among the sport’s elite.

“I knew I was up against it, but I still believed I had a big result left in me,” said the 32-year-old from Leigh.

“And now I just feel chuffed, and it was a huge relief as well.

“To be honest if I’d had a bit more luck on the greens I could have been in the winner’s circle.

“But my aim at the start of the week was to keep my tour card, and I’m delighted to have achieved that.”

The Thorpe Hall golf club member admits he was really up against it following a bogey four on the 15th in his penultimate round.

But he hit back with three straight birdies and followed up a steely-nerved four-under par last round to rocket 18 places up the leader board for a three-way tie for third place.

He said: “Those three birdies really gave me a lift for my final round.

“I knew my game was in shape and if I could finish well I could get that top five place I needed.

“It was always in the back of my mind that if I did not achieve that I would have to go back to school to try and get my Tour place.

“So I just approached it with the attitude ‘what will be will be’, and that worked well for me.”

McEvoy’s rounds of 70, 70, 69 and 68 left him on 11-under par and gave him his best result of the season with a prize purse of 53,200 euros.

It also earnt him a place at the coveted Hong Kong Open which begins on Thursday with prize money of US $2,750,000.

McEvoy, who flew back to spend some time with his family this week before jetting off to China, said: “I’m pretty tired at the moment but I’m looking forward to Hong Kong.

“I shot a 62 course record there in my first ever event on the European Tour, so it holds fond memories for me."