Five Musketeers Make Final Exam

Chris Devlin, David Higgins, Niall Kearney, Gareth Shaw and Simon Thornton are amongst thef 73 players  who earned a chance to battle it out for a European Tour card in Girona from November 24-29 as they emerged from the 303 taking part in Second Stage, which was hosted at four different venues across Spain.

As ever, there was tension aplenty with play-offs taking place at each venue to make or break the dreams of a select few of those hoping to ply their trade on the biggest stage in Europe in The 2013 Race to Dubai.

Liam Bond of Wales, Scotsman Jamie McLeary, Italy’s Nicolo Ravana and Dutchman Tim Sluiter were all victorious at their respective venues in Qualifying School Second Stage to seal their places at Final Stage at PGA Catalunya Resort later this month.

Amongst those to claim spots at the death were American Scott Pinckney, who gained a European Tour card for the 2012 season via Qualifying School but failed to retain it, Ondrej Lieser, who is hoping to become the first Czech player in history to gain a European Tour category, and the only Norwegian on The European Tour last season, Knut Borsheim.The winners, meanwhile, had no such stress as they soared to the top of the leaderboard, all carding final rounds of 66 or better.

Sluiter, who almost claimed a maiden Challenge Tour victory last month but was pipped in a play-off by Chris Doak at the ALLIANZ Open de Lyon, signed for a five under par 66 to win by a shot at Las Colinas Golf & Country Club with a score of 16 under.A total of 19 players qualified for Final Stage at Las Colinas, including former US Amateur Champion Byeong-hun An and two of Sluiter’s compatriots Daan Huizing, who finished runner-up, and Taco Remkes.

Jamie McLeary, a former winner on the Challenge Tour, finished three shots clear at Campo de Golf El Saler thanks to a final round 66 which left him on 10 under par in total.Amongst the 17 players who finished behind McLeary and sealed their path to Final Stage was athe experienced Swede Pelle Edberg.

Ravano’s six under par 65 earned him the bragging rights at Elle Valle Golf Resort as he finished one shot clear on 12 under par and he will be joined by three-time winner on the Challenge Tour in 2012, Sam Little, as well as 2009 Walker Cup team mates Sam Hutsby, who finished runner-up in Final Stage last year, and Luke Goddard.Bond’s remarkable record in Qualifying School continued as a six under par final round 65 handed him victory in El Lumine Golf & Beach Club, having won First Stage at Frilford Heath earlier this month.

Zane Scotland, who became the youngest English player to qualify for The Open Championship in 1999, also qualified from Lumine, as did England’s Tom Murray, son of former European Tour winner and Senior Tour regular Andrew Murray.Those who made the cut will be joined by exempt players as they return to Spain for the gruelling six round marathon of Final Stage, with the best 25 players (and ties) gaining a Category 11b Membership of The European Tour and those making the cut after four rounds earning a category for the Challenge Tour.

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Thornton One of Q-School Hopefuls

Chris Devlin and Simon Thornton led the Irish charge in the third round of European Tour second stage qualifying yesterday with stunning scores of 64 and 66 respectively.

Ballymena-born Devlin carded seven birdies in a brilliant bogey-free round at Las Colinas in Alicante, one which lifted him to joint sixth on the leaderboard, four strokes behind Dutch leader Tim Sluiter who is flying on 11 under.

While Devlin looks good for one of 19 qualifying places at this venue – the other three courses have 18 up for grabs – going into Saturdays's final round, Co Down’s Thornton is also in a great position after climbing to the top of the standings at El Saler in Valencia on six-under-par. After six birdies, the only blot was a bogey on the last green but he had still done enough to share first place with England’s Jason Timmis.

Also well-placed in Valencia is Waterville’s David Higgins.He shot 69 yesterday and is in a tie for seventh while Lurgan’s Gareth Shaw is in with a chance on two-over-par following a third-round 70. Ruaidhrí McGee (74) could find it tough to qualify after a double bogey seven on the 15th and a dropped shot at the last while Noel Fox (72) doesn’t have much hope on 10 over.

Back at Las Colinas, Brendan McCarroll (71) is just a stroke off the cut-off point on one-under-par, Mark Murphy (70) is two further adrift but Barrie Trainor (73) is out of contention.

Niall Kearney followed up a 66 on Thursday with a four-under 67 to move to joint-fifth at the Lumine club in Tarragona, two shots adrift of England’s Martin Sell who leads on 12 under.

It’ll be touch and go for Jonathan Caldwell (70)and Mark Staunton (71), two and three strokes off the last qualifying berth respectively, however Rathmore amateur Alan Dunbar (73) is trying to avoid finishing last.

At El Valle, Tim Rice (70) and Peter O’Keeffe(72) are tied for 15th, bang on the cut-off point, on two-under. 

Cian Curley carded a round of 68.

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McIlroy Needs Fair Weather

Singapore’s weather could have a big part to play in whether Rory McIlroy clinches the European Tour money list title this weekend. The world number one was restricted to just eight holes on the first day of the Singapore Open, a thunderstorm suspending play in mid-afternoon with him level par and five behind leader Thomas Bjorn.

Last year’s tournament was cut to three rounds because of torrential rain and the shorter the event the harder it will be for McIlroy to climb from his current 38th position into the top three he needs for the Order of Merit crown. Already the PGA Tour’s leading money-winner this season, the 23-year-old is trying to achieve what was an unprecedented double until Luke Donald did it last season.

Even missing the halfway cut at Sentosa would still leave him a massive favourite, however. None of his main challengers is in the field, nor will they be in Hong Kong when he defends the title there next week and after that there is only the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai to come.

McIlroy controversially skipped last week’s world championship in China to watch girlfriend Caroline Wozniacki play tennis in Bulgaria, but the roles are reversed now. After an opening bogey she saw him hit back with birdies on the fourth and fifth, but then came another dropped stroke at the short eighth just before the sirens sounded because of the approaching dark clouds.

Wozniacki’s fellow Dane Bjorn had long finished his day’s work by then, a five under par 66 putting him one in front of England’s Simon Khan, Spaniard Pablo Martin and Thai Chinnarat Phadungsil.

Former world number three Paul Casey, back to form after crashing out of the game’s top 100 following his snowboarding accident last Christmas, is only two behind, but three-time winner Adam Scott is alongside McIlroy after a 71, Phil Mickelson was two worse than that and Padraig Harrington ran up a seven in his 74.

Now 41, players’ committee chairman Bjorn won three times last season, but has gone 14 months without tasting more success. He birdied three of his last six holes in the oppressive morning heat and humidity and said: “We get quite used to it, but you’ve just got to pace yourself a little bit and not use too much energy.

“It’s quite nice for the body to be feeling warm and nice out there — no cold for the old joints to get you into trouble!”

Five years ago Martin became the first amateur to win on the European Tour and he has triumphed twice more since then, but at 166th on the money list he needs a top eight finish to save himself from a return to the qualifying school.

“I haven’t been able to put together four decent rounds in a row, but hopefully my luck will turn,” said Martin, who also has the Hong Kong Open to fight for his future. After two months out with a dislocated shoulder Casey made only one halfway cut from March to mid-August, but his last three finishes have been third, fifth and sixth.

“The golf has been really nice lately and I’d love to sneak a win in before my season finishes,” he commented. “It’s the first time I’ve played in this kind of humidity in a long time. Just hanging on to the club with sweaty hands is the biggest problem.”

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Matthew Defends Ochoa Title

2012 Ladies Irish Open winner, Catriona Matthew, looks to defend her title for her 5th career victory following a powerful performance at last year’s event where she won by four-strokes over Anna Nordqvist and I.K. Kim. 

The 18-year veteran enters the week after adding her fifth straight top-10 finish to her résumé this season at the Sunrise LPGA Championship presented by Audi.

The second to last event of the 2012 season kicks off this week in Mexico at the Guadalajara Country Club where tournament host and 27-time winner on the LPGA Tour Lorena Ochoa makes her first appearance since 2010. 

The fifth annual Lorena Ochoa Invitational presented by Banamex and Jalisco highlights a star-studded field of 36 players vying for a $150,000 first-place prize from its $1 million purse. 

The field also consists of six of the top-10 players in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings including No. 1 Yani Tseng, No. 2 Stacy Lewis and No. 4 Inbee Park.

Lewis is coming off her fifth-career LPGA victory at the Mizuno Classic where she came from a seven-stroke deficit to defeat second-round leader and JLPGA member Bo-Mee Lee. Lewis strengthened her lead in the Rolex Player of the Year race to 214 points giving her a 58 point lead over Park, who leads the 2012 Official Money list with more than $2.1 million.

Tseng also had strong performances throughout the Asia swing with back-to-back third place finishes in Korea and Taiwan, finishing with a fourth-place finish in Japan.

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Mixed Opening Day at Q School

A total of 304 players – 193 qualifiers and 111 exemptions – began the Second Qualifying Stage of The European Tour Qualifying School at four venues across Spain on Wednesday. 

At least 17 players from each of those courses – Campo de Golf El Saler in Valencia, Las Colinas Golf & Country Club in Alicante, El Valle Golf Resort in Murcia and Lumine Golf & Beach Club in Tarragona – will earn a the place at Final Stage at the end of November.

In the mix are 16 Irish hopefuls all chasing a place over the next week which Mark Staunton, Niall Kearney, Jonathan Caldwell, Peter O'Keeffe, Tim Rice, Brenda McCarroll, Mark Murphy, Chris Devlin, Simon Thornton, Gareth Shaw, Ruairdhri McGee, Barrie Trainor, Noel Fox and Cian Curley.

David Higgins has been on of the stronger starters at El Saler on day one, after a round of 71, with other end of the leader board showing difficult rounds ahead for Alan Dunbar at Lumine, carding a 75, and Barrie Traunor  

The exact number of spots available to the six-round final at the PGA Catalunya Resort in just over a fortnight will not be determined until the conclusion of the UBS Hong Kong and South African Opens (both of which finish on Sunday, November 18), but it is all to play for amongst the 304 hopefuls who all share the same dream of securing a place in The 2013 Race to Dubai.

England’s Jamie Abbot and Welshman Liam Bond made the best starts to the first round with the pair hitting the front at Lumine Golf & Beach Club with a pair of seven under par 64s.

Germany’s Florian Fritsch sits atop the leaderboard at Las Colinas alongside the Dutch duo of Taco Remkes and Tim Sluiter after the trio fired matching scores of four under 67.

The leading score at the remaining two Second Qualifying Stage venues was three under, with American Chan Kim posting a leading 69 at El Saler while four players – England’s Chris Gane and Sean Whiffin, the Swede Jacob Glennemo and German amateur Max Roehrig – posted opening 68s to move to three under at El Valle.

FIRST ROUND SCORES FROM EL SALER

FIRST ROUND SCORES FROM LAS COLINAS

FIRST ROUND SCORES FROM EL VALLE

FIRST ROUND SCORES FROM LUMINE