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Peter Lawrie and Gareth Maybin failed in their bid to retain their autromctaic playing righst on the Europaan Tour for next season after failing to make the cut at the ISPS Handa Perth International on Friday.
Kevin Phelan retains a chance on paper but needs a weekend of high scoring to improve on share of 35th place and clode the seven stroke gap with the leader, Peter Whiteford.
So the battle to keep a Tour card will go right to the wire over the weekend with Whiteford, Sihwan Kim and David Drysdale all in the frame for a last-ditch assault on the top 111 on The Race to Dubai.
Only the top 110 Full Members will retain their playing privileges for the 2015 season – Brendan de Jonge’s inclusion in the Race to Dubai as an Affiliate Member pushing the critical position back to 111th – and Whiteford, Kim and Drysdale are leading the charge of those players outside that mark looking for one last monumental effort this weekend to secure their place among the European Tour elite.
As things stand at the halfway stage of the ISPS HANDA Perth International at Lake Karrinyup Country Club, Whiteford, as 36 hole leader, could climb to 89th from 149th with victory on Sunday. He needs to finish first or second to secure his card. Drysdale in position to climb from 116th to 100th. Kim, lying third, is still on the wrong side of the bubble as that would only lift him to 116th from 138th as he needs a top two but it’s all to play for.
“It’s no holds barred,” said Whiteford. “Win or bust.
“I am very nervous. There's no doubt about that. I’ve got to just keep attacking. I don't want to go back to school. Nobody does. But I get what I deserve in this game, and I've been awful all year. It's nice that the form is coming back later on in the year.”
For some, its season over as those who missed the cut can do no more. For Maximillian Kieffer in 106th place on the Race to Dubai, Steve Webster (107th), Anthony Wall (108th) and particularly Lee Slattery (110th), an anxious weekend awaits as they missed the cut and the outcome is now out of their hands. If they are passed by enough players they may yet be bumped out.
For others it is back to the Qualifying School, and among those whose last chance has gone after missing the cut are former Tour champions Ricardo Santos, the 2012 Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year, Alastair Forsyth, and José Manuel Lara.
Peter Lawrie avoided a return a year ago with a top twenty finish. A feat that proved beyond David Higgins last year in Perth, and he lost his card, reliant on a number of exemptions for this season.
Kevin Phelan produced a fine last round at PGA Catalunya in last years tour school to grab his first season as a professional. He may have less fears returning to claim his rights for 2015.
Maybin faces his first trip in seven years after first qualifying in 2007 - within two years of trying pro.
Lawrie was last in Q School in 2001, and has a fifty percent record in four appearances since first earning his card in 1998.
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