VIVARY Park duo Mark Pavey and Colin Murphy had to settle for fourth place at the International Pairs world final at Celtic Manor last week.

The Taunton-based pair qualified for the event after being crowned 2005 UK champions at St Andrew's Bay in October.

They were well positioned to mount an assault on the silverware after the first round on the Roman Road course, which will host the 2010 Ryder Cup.

Pavey and Murphy, who play off nine and five respectively, started the second day in third place with 42 Stableford points, four behind the leaders.

But a second round score of 38 was not enough for them to secure a top-three slot, finishing fourth - six points behind winning Filipino pair, Felix Cortez and Gary Sales.

Murphy, who works in the booking office at Vivary, said: "It was a great experience.

"The course was fantastic and completely different to anything I've ever played before.

"If you didn't totally commit to your shots in the rough your club would just get tangled and the greens were unbelievably fast.

"We were joint second after the first round and in the running to win.

"But it didn't quite happen for us in the second round and we were happy to finish fourth.

Pavey, landlord at the Vivary Arms pub, said: "We were a little disappointed not to finish in the top three.

"We scored 42 points in the first round but it would have been even better if we had got up and down on 17 and 18 where we had chances.

"The conditions were very difficult in the second round, the wind picked up and didn't score quite as well.

"But we were very pleased to finish fourth out of 36."

The duo, who will soon embark on qualification for next year's event, came through three rounds before reaching the final.

They won the Vivary club competition to qualify for the regional event at the Kendleshire in Bristol. There, they finished in the top three, to earn a place in the UK final at St Andrew's.

Pavey and Murphy produced a wonderful display to win that event and qualify for the world final.

Results: 1, Cortez and Sales (Philippines) 86pts; 2, Mex and Foort (France) 83; 3, Ryan and Keane (Ireland) 82; =4 Shortreed and Shortreed (Scotland), Pavey and Murphy (England) 80; =6 Dodds and Fullard (USA), Shearer and Ray 79; 8, Hayes and Neethling (South Africa) 78; 9, Ball and Smith (England) 77; =10, Pierce and McGrath (Ireland), Binda and Soetendal (Netherlands), Kotze and Fourie (South Africa) 76; =13, Ramage and Turnbull (Scotland), Garl and Wires (USA) 74; 15, Mason and Donaldson (Scotland) 73; 16, Morgan and Jones (Wales) 72; 17, Olsen and Michelsen (Norway); 18, Wiggins and Waldron (England) 66; 19, Kort and Kort (Belgium) 60; =20, Bridges and Stockton, Foster and Harris 59; 22, Kristjansson and Gunnarsson (Iceland) 57; 23, Bergman and Vernia (Israel) 46.