Neither David Higgins nor Philip Walton could do enough yesterday to secure cards at the European tour qualifying at St Roque in the south of Spain.

Waterville's Higgins finished tied 57th after shooting level-par 72 yesterday for a six-round total of 432, five shots off qualification. Walton had a 71 for 433 and ended up tied 63rd, well outside the crucial first 35 and ties.

Walton's fellow Ryder Cup players Steve Richardson and Paul Broadhurst also failed to qualify.

Richardson missed out by one after bogeying the final hole, 1991 cup team-mate Broadhurst took eight strokes too many after running up a triple bogey on the same hole.

Sweden's Johan Skold finished top of the class on 17 under par, keeping his head while most ahead were losing theirs.

Overnight leader David Park, for example, had a worst-of-the-day 80 to drop to 14th, while England's Russell Claydon, on his 36th birthday, had two double bogeys and two bogeys in the first six holes before steadying to finish 13th.

But 19-year-old Liverpudlian Nick Dougherty further underlined his huge potential, not dropping a stroke in his last 36 holes to be third.

By then Richardson, Broadhurst and Walton were pondering what their disappointment means to their careers. Richardson, who had made it through the last three schools only to find himself back again a year later, said: "It will do me good to have a year off.

"I'm not sure I want to be on tour hitting the ball like I am. I played well the first day, but have been pretty ropey since."

The last, decisive hole of the 108 he played summed it up. Needing a par four he pushed his drive onto the downslope of a mound, topped a five-wood second with a desperate lunge of a swing and saw the ball stay out of the water only because it hit a bridge and rebounded 40 yards back down the fairway.

He was unable to take advantage of that lucky break, though. His eight-iron third was pushed too and finished only three feet from the lake by the green.

Richardson did well to two-putt from there, but it was for a five and before handing his card in he stood by the scoreboard adding up the number of players ahead of him.

At that stage it was 36 with 70 players still to finish, but the qualifying mark of five under did not change all day.

Englishman Robert Coles was one of the lucky ones: a 25-foot eagle putt on the last - in his case the 491-yard ninth - allowed him to make it through with nothing to spare.

However, Broadhurst and Walton were resigned to their fate early on, the former requiring a closing 69 and shooting 77, the latter a 65 and returning a 71.

For the Irishman it was a third successive failure at the school and he will continue to rely mostly on invitations for his chances to play on tour.

"I'm going to enjoy Christmas and get on with the rest of my life - whether it's golf or whatever," stated a dejected Broadhurst.

Asked what the "whatever" may be he shook his head, then added: "There may have to be a whatever. I can't afford to play the Challenge Tour - no family man can."

Although he has won over £2 million sterling on the tour, he said that as a father-of-three retirement is not an option.