Niall Kearney and Paul McBride are safely through to Second Stage of DP World Tour Q-School after matching one-under par final rounds at England’s Donnington Grove Golf Club.
Rounds of 70, 69 and 69 for Kearney and 67, 73 and 71 for McBride had them in fourth and 13th places respectively heading into the fourth and final round, and McBride knew that a round in red figures was likely to be enough to see him through while Kearney had a few additional stroke in hand.
But it was far from all plain sailing for McBride, who had two bogeys and a double bogey in an outward 40 that left him on +4 for the round and staring heartbreak in the face.
Back-to-back birdies on 10 and 11 restored hope and though he gave a shot back on 12, birdied four of the last six, including two closing birdies on 17 and 18 to get into the clubhouse on -6 overall and in a tie for 14th.
Kearney’s day was a lot less stressful, although he too suffered a slow start with back-to-back bogeys on four and five. A bounce back birdie on six restored calm, and two more on the back side saw him cruise in at -9 and tied for fifth place.
Marc Boucher was one of the qualifiers at this venue last year, but despite a valiant final-effort, he comes up two shots shy. A double bogey was the worst possible start, but four birdies over the next eight holes breathed life into his challenge and he made the turn very much in the mix.
A bogey on 10 made the task that bit harder, and eight pars got him home in a one-under 71 but as the scores came in, it looked increasingly likely that his three-under tally was going to be two strokes too many and that’s the way it panned out.
Robert Brazill closed out with his best round of the week, but his final-round 69 and -2 tally was three short, with Jonathan Yates (E) and Robert Moran (+6) also missing out.
Scot Callum Fyfe and German Tim Tillmanns took joint-medallist honours thanks to -13 tallies, with Spaniard Alejandro Aguilera solo third at -11.