Del Moral Shoots the Numbers

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Carlos del Moral carded a nine-under-par 63 as he swept to the top of the leaderboard on the fourth day of the European Tour's Qualifying School in northern Spain.

With two rounds still to play, the 28-year-old from Valencia holds a one-stroke advantage over Fabrizio Zanotti and Daniel Brooks, both of whom enjoyed bogey-free days over the Stadium Course at Girona.

New leader del Moral, who teed off in a tie-for-26th, posted seven birdies and an eagle in 13 holes from the third to put himself in pole position to re-claim his Tour card.

Paraguay's Zanotti shot 68, while Englishman Brooks had a 66.

At the end of 108 holes on Friday, the leading 25 pros and ties will earn their cards for the 2014 season.

At present, the leading 35 players are separated by just seven strokes with Wednesday's cut leaving 71 golfers to fight it out over the final 36 holes.

The last two rounds will be staged over the Stadium Course, which shared duties with the Tour course over the first four days, and this pleases del Moral whose caddy this week is his girlfriend.

He said: "I feel much more comfortable playing this tougher Stadium Course.

"I just feel a lot looser playing it. The Tour course feels a little smaller.

"I'm looking forward to the next two rounds on this course, especially when the other guys seem to think it is tougher.

"I know it sounds silly but I don't feel like that. I seem to know this one much better."

As for some of the bigger names returning on Thursday for the fifth round, 2008 Ryder Cup rookie Oliver Wilson is tied-for-36th and remains well in the hunt.

Wilson is one stroke behind Bradley Dredge, Fredrik Andersson Hed and Richard Finch.

One of those scraping into the final two rounds is Ben Evans who covered the back nine on Wednesday in 31 shots - including a birdie three at the last - to make the cut without a stroke to spare. At two-under-par, Evans is 12 strokes adrift of del Moral.

But disappointment for a trio of three-time European Tour winners Pablo Martin, Johan Edfors and Nick Dougherty.

Martin, whose fourth round 65 closed him to within three shots of the cut mark, will rue a 78 on Tuesday, while Edfors and Dougherty missed out by nine and 11 strokes respectively.

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Hedblom Leads Higgins and Lawrie

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David Higgins and Peter Lawrie both signed for rounds of 73 on the first day of the ISPS Handa Perth Internationl on Thursday to at least ensure they are inside the projected cut mark, as they both make a last bid to retain their auticmatic European Tour priveleges for next season.

Lawrie needs a 34th place finish - or better - this week to have a chance of making the top 110 players who retain their cards. 

David Higgins must finish inside the top 20 on Sunday to avoid a 14th visit to the dreaded Eurpean Tour Q-School.

On the otherhand Peter Hedblom made the perfect start to avoid his 11th trip to Qualifying School by taking a share of the first round lead in Perth.

The 43 year old has three European Tour titles to his name, but is currently 179th in The Race to Dubai with only the top 110 at the end of the week retaining playing privileges for next season.

That means Hedblom needs to win at Lake Karrinyup to avoid a return trip to PGA Catalunya, although having kept his card there last season the World Number 830 is trying not to let the tension take over.

“I'm so far back I need a win or to finish second really,” said Hedblom, who missed seven of his first eight cuts this year but carded six birdies and two bogeys in a four under par 68.

“You have nothing to hold back; you just have to go for everything. You're not happy to finish third or fourth or fifth or sixth or tenth, just play as good as you can.

“The tension is nothing really. Today it felt like any tournament - if I will be leading playing the last day, then maybe I'll feel the tension, but right now it's just one round out of four. It's good to at least have a chance to do it. 

“The game is there, you just need a little bit of confidence.”

The Swede’s efforts left him level with Korean Jin Jeong and Australians James Nitties and Clint Rice.

Former Amateur Champion Jeong chipped in at the 18th – his ninth - for an eagle two, but was keen not to get too carried away with his good start.

“It's only the first day and still three rounds to go and plenty of great players out here, so you never know what's going to happen,” said Jeong, who has been playing on The Challenge Tour this season and recently progressed to the second stage of Qualifying School.

“I’ve just got to do what I'm doing and just keep hitting good shots and hopefully that's good enough.”

American Ryder Cup star Dustin Johnson opened with a three under par 69 to be part of an eight-way tie for fifth.

The pre-tournament favourite Johnson was satisfied with his six-birdie round that included a 12 footer on the 15th.

“I played pretty well,” said the seven-time US PGA Tour winner. “I missed a couple short putts, but other than that, I hit it pretty well.” 

Another Swede fighting to keep his card, Fredrik Andersson Hed, was also one off the pace, while defending champion Bo Van Pelt opened with a two under par 70.

Michael Hoey also carded an opening round of 73.

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