European Tour School: Michael Hoey, the former British Amateur champion and Walker Cup star, continued his strong progress in the first stage of the European Tour Qualifying School by firing a third-round 67 to lie in joint second place at Carden Park.

Today is the final round of the stage, when the top 30 players from each of the five venues progress to stage two.

Other notable Irish performances included a 72 from David Higgins to be in fourth place at Five Lakes, and a 72 from recent Walker Cup player Noel Fox, still an amateur, to be in tied 16th behind Hoey at Carden Park.

EUROPEAN TOUR QUALIFYING SCHOOL - Stage one (Various venues, British unless stated, Irish in bold) - Leading third round scores and totals:

CARDEN PARK (Cheshire, par 72)

206 - M Smith 69 67 70, 207 - L Bond 70 71 66, Michael Hoey 75 65 67 208 - P Edwards 67 71 70, J McGough (USA) 67 72 69 209 - J Cheetham 71 69 69, R Walker 72 68 69 210 - J Mellor 69 69 72, C Goodfelow 72 72 66 211 - P Nyman (Swe) 73 70 68, M Griffiths 73 69 69 212 - K Sullivan 71 73 68, D Walker 72 69 71, N Reilly 70 73 69, M Jones 73 72 67 Irish: 213 (16th) - Noel Fox (am) 74 67 72, 217 (44th) - Raymond Burns 70 72 75, 218 (52nd) - Colm Moriarty 73 71 74, Michael Collins 74 71 73, 220 (64th) - Padraig Dooley 74 72 74, Justin Kehoe 75 73 72, 221 (72nd) - 74 72 75.

CHART HILLS (Kent, par 72)

203 - P Marantz (Aus) 68 73 62 204 - D Gaunt (Aus) 70 68 66 205 - W Ormsby (Aus) 67 67 71, M Pearson (USA) 72 67 66 207 - S Jones (Aus) 68 72 67 208 - B Dickerson (USA) 71 71 66, C Rodgers (USA) 71 71 66 209 - M Woods 66 70 73 210 - A Norris (Rsa) 70 68 72, S Collins (Aus) 70 70 70, D Dupart (Fra) 72 67 71, D Griffiths 73 68 69, B Portie (USA) 70 70 70, D Orr 71 68 71.

FIVE LAKES (Essex, (par 72)

209 - B Sigurbergsson (Icl) 70 71 68, J Kok (USA) 71 66 72, S Sveinsson (Icl) 70 67 72 210 - J Barnes 75 68 72, David Higgins 70 68 72 211 - A Sobrinho (Por) 74 72 65, J King (Aus) 75 64 72, M Thompson 72 71 68, J Makitalo (Fin) 71 69 71 212 - J Axgren (Swe) 74 73 65, J Peltomaki (Fin) 71 71 70 213 - B Hafthorsson (Icl) 75 69 69, D Charlton 72 72 69. Irish: 214 (14th) - Chris Devlin 69 70 75, 216 (22nd) - Damian Mooney 75 72 69, 217 (28th) - Ciaran McMonagle 71 75 71, Richie Coughlan 75 71 71, 222 (63rd) - Mark Murphy (am) 77 71 74, Paddy Gribben 75 72 75, 224 (78th) - Conor Mallon 80 72 72, Daniel Sugrue 73 78 73.

GOLF UND LAND CLUB (Ger, par 72)

207 - M Crespi (Ita) 72 67 68 209 - F Soderstrom (Swe) 69 70 70 212 - R Rashell (USA) 71 72 69 213 - M Carlsson (Swe) 68 70 75 214 - M Westerberg (Swe) 70 69 75, J Huldahl (Den) 72 77 65 215 - J Gronhagen (Swe) 68 71 76, A Andersson (Swe) 69 72 74

GOLF DE MOLIETS (Fra, par 72):

208 - C Balmaseda Sanchez (Spa) 68 74 66 209 - B Fritsch (Can) 74 70 65, N Joakimides (Fra) 68 75 66 210 - I Del Castillo (Spa) 67 73 70, J Boeckx (Bel) 69 70 71, J Quesne (Fra) 69 70 71 212 - B Lecuona (Fra) 69 70 73