Delaney Misses Q School Cut

Tara Delaney saw her strong momentum in the early rounds undone at La Manga, after a fourth round of 79 saw her miss the cut into the final rounds - and a total of five shots off the mark as a result. 

England’s Jodi Ewart continued to lead after the fourth round of the Ladies European Tour’s Final Qualifying School at La Manga Club in Spain on Wednesday as 52 players made the cut, securing their places in the fifth and final round.

Wednesday’s penultimate round represented a chance for the 99 competitors in the field to make a break towards the top 50 and ties and the magic number fell at nine over par.

On Thursday, the remaining 52 competitors will ultimately be targeting the crucial top 30 places and membership of the LET in category 8a.

After the final round, those who finish in positions 31 to 52 will be eligible for Membership in Category 9b, but with fewer chances to play.

As always at Qualifying School, there was drama at the top and bottom of the leader board as the players jostled for position.

At the top of the leader board, Ewart’s overnight lead was cut from seven to four shots, after Swiss amateur Anais Maggetti fired a six under 67 on the South Course to end the day at seven under par.

Maggetti, 21, from Losone, showed what was possible as she reeled off seven birdies and one bogey in the bright and sunny, calm conditions.

She said: “I am very happy and I holed two long putts of 20 metres. Tomorrow I want to play the same as today.”

If Maggetti finishes inside the top 30 places, she will turn professional, but if not will consider her options.

Ewart turned professional in June 2010 and has been honing her game on the US Futures Tour since graduating from New Mexico University, but she said that she endured a frustrating day on the greens.

A fourth round of two over 73 on the North Course gave the 24-year-old from North Yorkshire an 11 under par aggregate total.

Ewart said: “I didn’t get very many chances today. They just weren’t falling at all. I had one bad hole which set me back a couple of shots but nothing really went in.

“I am feeling calm but I got a little frustrated today because I had a couple of unlucky finishes, behind trees and stuff. I got a little bit unlucky and had one bogey and one double. I hit it in a fairway bunker and just got a little bit greedy with my lay-up shot, which was 115. I caught the lip of the bunker and came back in and three putted on top of that. I just had one birdie on the fifth.

“Nothing was dropping. I had so many pars and everything was green in regulation and two putts. It was a pretty boring round and the opposite of yesterday.”

At the other end of the leader board, Russian Maria Verchenova was one of the players who climbed up into the top 52 places moving from tied 55th into a share of 43rd with a one under par 72 on the South Course, but Scotland’s Lynn Kenny went the other way, slipping from tied 49th into joint 76th with a 78 on the North.

While there was misery for some, there was joy for Norwegian Caroline Martens, sitting in a share of 30th position on six over par in total, after she had a hole in one at the second on the North Course. She also had a hole in one on a different hole on the same course the previous year. 

With one day to go, the golfers are facing the last 18 holes of this year’s test, but who will be able to withstand the pressure and produce the goods when it is needed the most?

Ultimately, the higher up the leader board the players finish, the more competitive chances will be available to them during the 2012 season.

If necessary, a play-off will take place to establish first position, to determine who will follow in the footsteps of Anna Nordqvist and Caroline Hedwall as recent LET Q-School winners, while if necessary, there will also be a play-off to establish 30th place.

The final round will be played over the South Course starting from two tees at 9.30am on Thursday, with the leading trio of Ewart, Maggetti and Stephanie Kirchmayr, who shares joint third spot with Carlota Ciganda at four under, teeing off the first at 10.50am.

Harrington Still Expects

Although Padraig Harrington is currently 99th in the world, he expects to win more majors in his career. 

“That’s a big, strong word, but I do, yeah,” said the Dubliner at Fancourt in South Africa, where his season starts with the Volvo Golf Champions.

“I didn’t have a great year last year, but it doesn’t worry me in the greater scheme of things because I know you just can’t win them every year. You have to sit there and be patient and wait for your turn – and, like 2007 and 2008, they all come at once.”

Three years ago Harrington became the first European since 1906 to make a successful defence of the Open, then a month later became the first European to win the USPGA Championship since 1930.

Last season, though, the best he did in the majors was 45th at the US Open and missed cuts at the Masters and British Open accelerated his slump down the rankings.

“When you look at Nick Faldo it took him 20-25 years (as a professional) to win six – the most by any European (of modern times).

“I’m not foolish to believe that because I won one in 2007 and two in 2008 I should win three in 2009, or even another one.

“They don’t come around that easy. Even in my era the greatest player since I’ve been a pro – Tiger Woods – has not won one a year. There have been plenty of years he has not won any.

“People have this idea that just because you play well and you win one you should be doing that every year. That’s the hardest thing. It definitely puts a big burden on anybody who wins a major . . . .”

Now 15 months on from his last tournament victory, Harrington still took positives out of last season. “I sorted out a neck injury that plagued me for 10 years, then found something in my mental game and got to the bottom of something in my swing which had been annoying me for five years.

“But the reality is that we are judged by our results – I certainly do when I watch people playing sports – and I have to accept that results last year were poor.”

What he must have found particularly disappointing was that on the PGA Tour in America he went backwards in every final round, whereas in 2008 he had gone forward every time.

With the world’s top four of Luke Donald, Lee Westwood, Rory McIlroy and Martin Kaymer all deciding not to play – they along with Woods start in Abu Dhabi next week – this week is a golden opportunity for him to stop the slide and start climbing again.

A field restricted to European Tour winners since the start of last season and those with 10 or more titles on the circuit is only 35 strong.

With the Ryder Cup in mind as much as anything else, Harrington desperately wants to be back in the world’s top 64 for next month’s Accenture world matchplay and the top 50 for the Cadillac world championship in Miami two weeks later. A win on Sunday will achieve the first of those, although the cut-off point for Tucson is not for another three weeks.

Defending champion Paul Casey is another absentee, having dislocated his shoulder snowboarding. Harrington does not criticise the world number 20 for taking to the slopes in Colorado.

“Any accident is unfortunate and some people may think ‘why take the risk?’, but if you sat in a hotel room or at home looking at four walls you wouldn’t be a very good golfer. You have to live your life.”

Masters champion Charl Schwartzel is the only player in the game’s top 25 taking part, but also present is British Open champion Darren Clarke, three-major-winner Ernie Els and past and present Ryder Cup captains Colin Montgomerie and Jose Maria Olazabal.

The other Irish interest is Michael Hoey.