NEWS: All three Irish players enjoyed success at the delayed European Tour Qualifying school second stage at St Cyprien in France yesterday. Stephen Browne finished tied fifth with Gordon Sherry on level-par 219, four shots adrift of surprise winner, amateur Jan Are Larsen from Norway. Gary Cullen tied ninth on 221 after an equal best-of- the-day 68 while amateur Daniel Sugrue shot 74 for 224.
Browne, who shot through the field in terrible conditions in Sunday's second round with a three-under-par 70 to lead going into the last day, shot a final round 75 to qualify comfortably.
"I played really good the first two days so I went out today with not much pressure on me. I knew that I could shoot 80 or so and still get in. I played nicely on the front nine but had to take two drops out of water hazards on the back nine and ended up two over," said Browne afterwards.
With a round of 68, Cullen surged 15 places up the leaderboard to secure his place in the six-round finals on Friday and said, "I'm over the moon at the moment. I played really solid today. I've been to tour school before in 1999 and 2001 but never got to stage two before, and now I'm in finals."
Sugrue completed the sweep of Irish players with a one-over-par 74 for a five-over-par 224, sharing 20th spot to make it six representatives in the finals.
