Ashford's Benn Barham went a long way towards securing his European Tour card for another season with an excellent third place in the Inteco Russian Open in Moscow at the weekend.

It was his best finish of the season so far, earning him nearly £65,000 and lifting him to 86th in the European Order of Merit.

The Chart Hills golfer finished 18 under par with consistent below par golf over the four days.

His best of the week was a superb seven under par 65 to take the clubhouse lead at 14 under and, although eventual winner Mikael Lundberg topped that with a 64 in round three the excellent round propelled Barham up into contention from 14th after the second round.

He had opened with rounds of 69, 68 and then maintained his fine form with a final round 68.

Benn capped his week with a birdie on the final hole to stay clear in third place behind Sweden’s Lundberg, who also won there in 2005, and Spaniard Jose Manuel Lara.

The top two finished 21 and 19 under respectively.

n Ashford’s Peter Mitchell finished tied 60th at the Senior Open Championship at Royal Troon Golf Club in Ayrshire, Scotland.

Mitchell finished 17 over par after shooting rounds of 74, 75, 73 and 79. He took home just over 3,000 euro in prize money.

Andrew Reynolds, from Deal, failed to make the cut and finished tied 83rd after carding rounds of 75 and 79.

David A. Russell finished last after shooting an eight over opening round of 79 and failing to complete a second round.

The event was won by America’s Bruce Vaughan.