GOLF EUROPEAN TOUR:HE WAS Latin and he was angry. And he finished up putting with the leading edge of his wedge as nerves became frayed on day three of the European Tour Qualifying School finals at PGA Golf de Catalunya. Having given his putter a Basil Fawlty-style "thrashing" following some earlier misbehaviour, our anonymous pro still shot a level par 72 on the tough Stadium Course. Yet so hot was the scoring yesterday that a score of level fours was not even at the races.
Conditions were so ideal for scoring at the 36-hole complex outside Girona that more than 100 players in the 156-strong field broke par, most of them on the easier Tour Course. They included Royal Dublin’s Niall Kearney, who shot a three-under 67, and former Royal County Down assistant professional Simon Thornton, who signed for a two-under-par 68 on the 6,600-yard track that has been reduced to a par 70 this week.
Both felt they should have shot 65 or better but instead they slipped further off the pace in the battle to finish inside the top 30 and ties after six rounds.
Kearney made the turn in one under thanks to birdies at the first and sixth and a solitary bogey at the tough fifth. But instead of pushing on after holing a 25-footer for an eagle three at the 10th, he did well to cover the remaining holes in level par as he followed bogeys at the 14th and 15th with birdies at the 16th and 18th.
“I feel I should have been six or seven under but I have to take three,” said Kearney, who is three shots outside the vital top 30 on four under. “Overall I’m happy enough . . . there are plenty of chances to be had on the Stadium Course tomorrow.”
Thornton picked up four shots in his first 10 holes but then bogeyed the 11th and 14th and failed to convert his chances coming home. “I should have been four, five or six under par,” said Thornton, who fell 15 places to 59th on three under. “But there’s no point in thinking more about it. We’re only at halfway and the game is there.”
Glasson’s Colm Moriarty shot a level-par 72 on the Stadium Course, falling 22 places to 99th on one over par. He’s three shots outside the top 70 and ties who will play the last two rounds following today’s 72-hole cut, but he was aiming for a low round on the Tour Course yesterday. “I’m not hitting it close enough and not holing the putts when I do,” Moriarty said. “On the front nine, I was struggling off the tee and very lucky to get away with it. But level par is no disaster. Let’s hope the other course is scoreable tomorrow. There’s a score to be had there if you play well.”
While Moriarty has an excellent chance of qualifying for the last two rounds, Belfast’s Damian Mooney will need one of the rounds of the week to survive the cut after a five-over 77 on the Stadium Course left him tied for 128th on six over par.
Scotland’s Lloyd Saltman (64), Spain’s Alfredo Garcia Heredia (64) and England’s Steven Lewton (66) lead by a stroke on 11 under after burning up the Tour Course.
Leading Third Round Scores
201– E Saltman 66 71 64, A Garcia- Heredia 70 67 64, S Lewton 63 72 66.
202– J Doherty 66 73 63, A Gee 66 71 65, L Saltman 68 69 65, L Bond 66 69 67, F Fritsch 69 65 68.
203– R Kakko 71 68 64, S Manley 74 65 64, E Canonica 69 69 65, S Wakefield 70 68 65, W Ormsby 66 71 66, J Knutzon 69 68 66.
204– C Del Moral 68 72 64, C Doak 67 73 64, B Etchart 71 69 64, M Kieffer 70 71, 63, R Wattel 71 68 65, M Brier 71 68 65, J Van Zyl 72 67 65, T Norret 69 69 66, S Garcia 70 68 66, E Dubois 70 72 62, F OhlssoN 67 69 68, E Kofstad 71 64 69.
Irish: (T52) 208 – Niall Kearney 76 65 67. (T59) 209 – Simon Thornton 72 69 68. (T99) 215 – Colm Moriarty 74 69 72. (T128) 220 – Damian Mooney 68 75 77.
