A FREAKISH piece of bad luck ruined golfer Matt Southgate’s crucial final round at the European Tour qualifying school in Spain.

The Thorpe Hall amateur’s back nine was decimated by a triple bogey on the 14th, and he just missed out on one of the 34 places up for grabs on next season’s elite professional golf tour.

But Southgate said his decisive 14th hole was ruined because his ball had been stopped in its tracks by a rake left at the side of a bunker.

It meant he had to mark the ball, move the rake, and play it from where it stopped — and that meant he was forced to take the shot while stood inside the bunker, and with the ball at waist height.

“It was just bad luck really,” he said. “But it did come at a really bad time.

“But the good thing is I know that I would not have done anything different. It was just one of those things.”

He added: “But when you play a week of intense golf like that you can’t really blame it on one hole or one round. And, overall, I played well and achieved more than I expected to.”

Southgate will now take a well-earned rest over Christmas as he weighs up whether or not to turn pro for next year.

Because he finished in the top 70 at the PGA Catalunya Resort event, he now has the option to turn pro and play on the Challenge Tour, the second tier of men’s professional golf in Europe.

But he says he will make his decision early next year, and could chose to remain an amatuer as he has a very good chance of making the Walker Cup team in 2011.

Southgate finished the qualifying school in Spain tied for 42nd and on seven-under for the tournament.

He was six shots ahead of Basildon professional Daniel Brooks, who has already secured his place on the Challenge Tour after finishing 61st on this year’s order of merit.