Maverick Antcliff – file photo
Queenslander Maverick Antcliff has finished runner-up at the European Tour’s Canary Island Championship in Tenerife in Spain, providing the 28-year-old his best finish on the European Tour and easily his biggest cheque (€152,000) in professional golf.
Antcliff, who hails from just south of Brisbane and attended the Hills International College in Jimboomba before a collegiate career in the US, recorded a final round of 65 to finish in outright second place and six shots behind South African Garrick Higgo who won his second title in his last three European Tour starts.
Antcliff is playing in Europe courtesy of an outstanding year on the China Golf Tour in 2019 when he won three events and easily headed the China Tour Order of Merit that season, earning the right to play in Europe because of that tour’s association with the European Tour.
In his rookie European Tour season in 2020, Antcliff managed a 3rd place finish at the Irish Open but this week’s performance further consolidates his standing in Europe and improves his world ranking to just outside the top 200.
Antcliff played for Augusta State in the US and as a result escaped the attention of Australian golf during his amateur days but his performances in China and those in his early European Tour career suggest a bright future.
Amongst his wins in amateur golf in the US was the prestigious Rice Planters event.
For 21-year-old South African Higgo, his victory continues his rapid rise in the game. This was his third European Tour title and he now sits close to the top 50 in the world golf rankings and will play next week’s USPGA Championship at Kiawah Island.
