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| Photo: Gordon McCadden |
Colm Moriarty is another veteran of Q School and this season will complete his twelfth visit when he tees off at El Saler in Valencia. The Glasson professional is part of a group that includes Walker Cup player Kevin Phelan, Alan Dunbar and Ballybunion's John Daniel Guiney
Las Colinas in Alicante will welcome one time League of Ireland professional Stephen Grant, Brendan McCarroll and David Rawluk, all now experienced with the qualifying routine. The winner of Stage 1 at Wychwood Park last month Ruairdhri McGee also joins them.
Niall Kearney returns looking to improve on his 67th place in Catalunya two seasons ago at Stage 3 and to better his disappointment at the Asian Tour Q School in January.
Damian Mooney, a close contender for the Irish PGA Championship this year, hoping to improve on his 123rd finish in 2010. All on the basis that Stage 2 does not become the impassible hurdle it proved for so many Irish players last year.
Dermot McElroy is drawn at Lumine Golf Club in Tarragona with the Ballymena talemt yet to fulfil his promise.
The European Tour Qualifying School Schedule will once again reach its exciting conclusion at PGA Catalunya Resort, where the Final Stage will be played for the sixth consecutive season from November 10th -15th.
Last season, John Parry won by four strokes with a 19 under par total en route to regaining his European Tour card, having lost his playing privileges a little over a year after picking up a maiden title at the 2010 Vivendi Cup.
The Englishman was one of 28 golfers who qualified from the six round event, which every year tests the field’s skills, as well as their stamina, under the most intense pressure following a long, hard season.
Based ten miles south of Girona in the north east of Spain, the 36-hole resort boasts two championship layouts alongside state of the art practice facilities, and is part of the European Tour Properties Network.
Over the first four rounds, both the Stadium and Tour courses will play host to a field comprising of golfers at either end of the spectrum, with young up and comers and experienced pros alike teeing it up having made it through the previous two qualifying stages, or having narrowly missed out on a European Tour card through the Race to Dubai or Challenge Tour Rankings.
The course was co-designed by European Tour Champions and members of the Board of Directors, Neil Coles MBE - who announced earlier this year that he was stepping down as Chairman after 38 years in the position - and Vice Chairman Angel Gallardo, Vice Chairman.
As a further measure of the resort’s quality, the Stadium layout has also been included in Golf World magazine’s ‘Top 100 Courses in the World’, as well as Golf Monthly magazine’s ‘Top 50 Courses in Continental Europe’ in recent years.
Mike Stewart, Qualifying School Director, is particularly excited to be returning to PGA Catalunya Resort once again in 2013.
“PGA Catalunya is an excellent facility that year-on-year has welcomed the Qualifying School back with open arms, and this season promises to be yet another thrilling conclusion to the process as some of the newest and the most experienced players battle it out for their European Tour cards.
“Knowing that the players will be greeted by some of the best practice facilities around, as well as two stunning championship layouts, will no doubt help them get through what is bound to be a long and stressful week.”
