Golf:A bogey on the 18th cost David Higgins a place in the final two rounds of the European Tour qualifying school in Spain as Ireland's involvement in the tournament ended.
The Waterville golfer missed a four-foot par putt after finding the bunker with his approach on the 18th at the PGA Catalunya Resort as he carded a two-under 70 to finish the four rounds on three under.
At that point, Higgins was inside the top 70 that would go on to compete for European Tour cards, but a strong finish from Austrian Peter Bacher got him to four under and eliminated the eight players on three under.
Chris Devlin, Cian McNamara and Jonathan Caldwell were the other Irish golfers to miss out.
The four-under-par cut mark is the lowest 72-hole cut in the history of the Qualifying School, leaving last year’s final stage winner Simon Wakefield missing out, alongside three-time European Tour winner Nick Dougherty.
England’s Sam Hutsby shot a one-under 71 to stay top of the leaderboard.
Hutsby has been at the top of the leaderboard since a stunning round of 60 on day one and looks set to make a return to the European Tour after narrowly losing his card in 2010.
The 23-year-old leads fellow Englishman David Sullivan by two strokes with his tally of 16 under, with a third Englishman David Dixon, South Africa’s Branden Grace and France’s Victor Riu tied for third on 13 under.
