A double bogey on his penultimate hole in the Open Championship at Lytham St Annes left a sour taste in the mouth of East Bergholt professional Paul Curry.

Curry had played steadily over the first two days to make the halfway cut with rounds of 72, 71 for a one over par total of 143.

And on Saturday, 40-year-old Curry produced what was described as the "perfect round" when he carded 18 straight pars.

His form continued into yesterday's (Sunday's)final round, but on the 17th he found one of the 190 bunkers on the course.

It was to cost him a double bogey and his round of four over par 75 saw him slip down the leaderboard.

Curry said: "I was pleased to make the cut, but I feel disappointed about the way things ended up.

"I got one birdie in the last three rounds. I just couldn't get the ball to drop.

"Overall I played well. I hit one bad shot on the 17th yesterday and finished with a six. The bunkers were difficult to get into to play a shot, never mind get out of. Luckily, I didn't go in too many."

About his run of pars, Curry added: "I think I ended up posting something like 36 pars in a row which shows what my putting was like."

Curry was aided in his quest for cash and glory by 16-year-old Richard Davies who carried his bag for the four days.

"He is a friend of the professional at Purdis Heath in Ipswich and caddied for me in the final qualifying.

"He is a good golfer himself, and did a fine job, so I retained him for the Championship."

"He had a lot of fun. I was concerned that he wouldn't be able to keep up but he insisted on taking the big bag, and he was OK."

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