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| Mark Staunton and Craig Montgomerie |
It was a remarkable one-two for Ireland in the European Tour qualifying school's first stage in Scotland yesterday, with Mark Staunton and Peter O'Keefe taking the top two spots.
Staunton (30) led from the start on Tuesday and finished with a solid one-under-par 71 yesterday for a 72-hole aggregate of 276 and a yawning eight-stroke cushion over Muskerry-based O'Keefe at Roxburghe Hotel.
The Ballinsloe man could afford two bogeys in the last three holes and still demolish his rivals.
O'Keefe was steady yesterday, compiling halves of 36 and 37 for a 73 and a 284 aggregate, which gave him second place by a stroke from England's George Thacker.
Waterville's New Orleans-based Mark Murphy scraped through to the next stage on the cut-off mark after closing with a level-par 72 for 291.
Knowing it would be tight, Murphy kept his nerve to par the last six holes and finished joint eighth -- a stroke more and he would have been out.
Damian Mooney did fall by the wayside after he slipped to a 74 for a 294 total. Staunton, O'Keefe and Murphy now go forward to the second stage next month.
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