Ian Harrison, the touring professional from Woodlake Park, was the leading Welsh-based player after the first tournament counting towards this year's Welsh order of merit.

Harrison finished on nine-under-par 195 in the Welsh Masters over the Mathern course at St Pierre. He produced a four-under-par 64 on the final day to leap from eighth to fifth.

"It would be wonderful to win the Welsh order of merit and I shall be trying my hardest for the rest of the season," he said. "But there are so many talented players in Wales I'll have to be on top form."

Sion Bebb (Vale of Glamorgan), one of several leading Welsh players who are spending their time on the Challenge Tour this year, was joint ninth, one place higher than fellow Challenge Tour man Richard Dinsdale (Newport).

Alun Evans (Newport, Pembs) climbed to 13th with the help of his first hole in one. He used a 3-iron at the 218-yard eighth hole and was presented with a bottle of champagne by the Marriott St Pierre as a reward.

"I am fed up with amateurs in my Pro-am teams asking me how many holes in one I've had, so now I've got an answer for them," he said.

St Pierre assistant Liam Bond and James Lee (Cardiff) shared 14th to be joint fifth in the Welsh list. The remainder of the top ten are: Simon Edwards (Wrexham), Matthew Griffiths (Radyr), Mark Plummer (Golf Mania) and Darran Clark (Mountain Ash) and Paul Collins (Marriott St Pierre) in joint tenth.

The four Welsh tournaments are backed by the Ryder Cup Wales 2010 board. The Mid-Wales Championship takes place at Cradoc between September 1-3 followed by the Welsh Professional Championship at Portmadoc, September 9-11.

The final event is the Welsh Classic over the outstanding new Vale of Glamorgan championship course on October 14-16.

Barry Austin of Teign Valley won the Welsh Masters after a tense head-to-head tussle with Lee Thompson (Dudsbury).