And then there were four.

Stephen Grant, Barrie Trainor, Brian McElhinney and Michael Lavelle were the only Irishmen to survive the 54-hole cut as the axe fell at the First Stage of the European Tour Qualifying School (Section A).

Dreams of winning a European Tour are over for another year for Noel Fox and his brother James, Alan Murray, Ulstermen Byron Campbell and Adam Savage, Neil O Briain, Ger Hall and Danny Sugrue.

Warrenpoint man Trainor remains Ireland’s brightest hope of making it through to stage two but a third round 74 left him three strokes adrift of the 20 players who will progress at Dundonald links.

McElhinney hit a two under par 70 and Lavelle a 71 at the same venue but the rest of the Irish results were massively disappointing .

Former professional soccer player Grant is also three strokes outside the qualifying mark at Ribagolfe near Lisbon, where 31 players will battle for 12 spots in Friday’s final round.

Noel Fox the biggest name to fall by the wayside after a third round 83 in Portugal left him 11 strokes short of the cut mark.

Lübker Golf Resort, Nimtofte, Denmark: Nine to qualify

214 L Johansen (Den) 73 70 71, V Almstrom (Swe) 71 74 69,
216 L Johansson (Swe) 74 75 67,

218 T Norret (Den) 72 73 73, M Bliss (Can) 73 73 72,

219 M McQuillan (Can) 76 72 71, N Lemke (Swe) 73 74 72,

220 B Ahlenback (Swe) 73 73 74, M Warenius (Swe) 74 74 72,

Qualifying places end ----------

221 F Ohlsson (Swe) 77 75 69, T Nielsen (Den) 75 74 72, A Axelsson (Swe) 78 75 68,

223 K Storgaard (Den) 75 75 73, C Lange (Den) 76 73 74,

224 B Akstrup (Den) 79 76 69,

225 P Malmgren (Swe) 78 75 72, D Lokke (am) (Den) 73 77 75,

54 hole cut

228 K Edberg (Swe) 75 79 74, J Lykke-Kjeldsen (Den) 79 78 71,

229 K Nielsen (Den) 77 78 74, M Dam (Den) 82 75 72,

230 J Dantorp (Swe) 78 74 78, A Jacobsson (Swe) 79 77 74, F Gustavsson (Swe) 79 74 77,

231 O Haraldson (Swe) 83 75 73, M Hansen (Den) 76 81 74, M Eberhard (am) (Ger) 80 75 76,

232 M Olsen (Den) 76 79 77,

234 J Lerchedahl (Den) 84 74 76, Alan Murray (Irl) 79 78 77, J Glennemo (Swe) 78 79 77,

236 A Werner (Den) 82 77 77,

237 A Kali (Den) 79 83 75,

238 J Vinther (Den) 79 85 74, A Johansson (Swe) 80 80 78,

240 M Thistleton (am) (Eng) 82 82 76,

244 C Petersson (Swe) 86 82 76,

** O Suhr (Den) 69 74 WD, D Jonsson (Swe) 82 83 WD,

 

Ribagolfe, Lisbon, Portugal: 12 to qualify

209 J Van Der Vaart (am) (Ned) 68 69 72,

211 J Bjerhag (Swe) 70 70 71, J Poucher (USA) 68 71 72,

212 M Bothma (RSA) 71 71 70,

215 M Ureta (Chi) 70 74 71, J Pettersson (Swe) 72 73 70,

216 D Torne (Esp) 74 73 69, P Del Grosso (Arg) 71 74 71,

217 J Little (Eng) 69 74 74, F Cea (Esp) 67 73 77,

218 L Claverie (Esp) 74 72 72,

220 J Evans (Eng) 71 77 72, H Santos (Por) 74 72 74, C Nel (RSA) 71 76 73,

Qualifying places end ----------

221 L Dodd (Eng) 73 76 72,

222 C Cousins (Wal) 71 79 72, R Eriksson (Swe) 76 74 72, M Cobo Arrayas (Esp) 70 78 74,

223 K Grud (Den) 75 75 73, Stephen Grant (Irl) 75 75 73, P Pinto (Arg) 74 76 73,

224 M Hedegaard (Den) 73 75 76, P Hansen (Den) 74 75 75, J Kelly (Nor) 76 73 75, J Carlson (Swe) 73 71 80, R Bastard (Eng) 77 75 72,

225 A Gutierrez (Esp) 76 74 75,

226 D Hutton (Eng) 71 73 82, J Billing (Swe) 76 76 74,

227 D Carrera (Esp) 75 76 76, N Drane (Eng) 74 78 75,

54-hole cut

228 G Pera (Esp) 72 74 82, I Giner (Esp) 72 76 80, S Salem (Per) 77 72 79,

230 I Griffiths (Wal) 78 76 76,

231 Byron Campbell (am) (Nir) 76 76 79, A Finnbjornsson (am) (Isl) 80 73 78,

234 J Nordstrom (Swe) 79 77 78,

236 N Stivala (Aus) 79 75 82, S Vautier (Eng) 78 77 81,

238 Noel Fox (Irl) 79 76 83, A Pavlov (Rus) 81 82 75, D Goldenberg (Isr) 79 79 80,

240 A Rogers (Eng) 78 80 82,

241 F Cabrera (Arg) 81 78 82,

246 M Deboub (Alg) 80 84 82,

252 G Braga (Por) 76 89 87,

253 J Garzon Allende (Esp) 87 83 83,

256 Adam Savage (Irl) 83 81 92,

** A Salto (Esp) 78 80 WD, R Da Silva (am) (Por) 76 81 WD,

 

Dundonald Links, Ayrshire, Scotland: 20 to qualify

208 J Elson (Eng) 69 69 70,

209 K McAlpine (am) (Sco) 67 73 69,

211 L De Jager (RSA) 69 70 72,

213 G Cowan (Eng) 73 70 70, C Lee (Sco) 78 70 65,

215 J McCreadie (Sco) 74 75 66, T Dykes (Wal) 69 73 73,

216 R Lee (Eng) 71 74 71,

217 O Whiteley (Eng) 74 74 69, P McKechnie (Sco) 73 74 70, W Bowe (am) (Eng) 73 70 74,

218 S McAllister (Sco) 76 69 73, I Ridgway (Eng) 75 72 71, D Belch (Eng) 71 75 72, M Hillson (am) (Sco) 75 72 71,

219 S Gray (Sco) 72 75 72, G King (Eng) 76 72 71, P O'Hara (Sco) 75 76 68, C Kelly (Sco) 73 73 73, S Mackie (Sco) 73 73 73,

Qualifying places end ----------

220 M Kerr (Sco) 72 71 77, A Lockhart (Sco) 74 74 72, J Ablett (Eng) 74 74 72, S Doherty (Eng) 73 73 74, L Harper (Sco) 78 72 70, M Quiros (Esp) 71 76 73,

221 I Keenan (Eng) 74 72 75, D Astin (Eng) 77 73 71, J Axgren (Swe) 76 75 70,

222 G Plumet (Fra) 71 74 77, S Capper (Eng) 77 73 72, G Marks (Eng) 74 77 71, Barrie Trainor (Irl) 70 78 74, R Cameron (Sco) 72 75 75, E Little (Sco) 75 73 74,

223 S Henderson (Sco) 72 76 75, S Jackson (Eng) 77 72 74, Brian McElhinney (Irl) 78 75 70, S Garcia-Grout (Esp) 76 73 74, J Fallon (Eng) 78 74 71, R Carter (am) (Eng) 78 73 72, G Yates (am) (Sco) 76 72 75,

224 J Housby (Eng) 77 73 74, D Holloway (Nzl) 77 75 72, Michael Lavelle (Irl) 78 75 71, C Campbell (Sco) 79 74 71, O Arvidsson (am) (Swe) 74 79 71,

225 S Hume (Sco) 76 75 74, K Nicol (am) (Sco) 76 72 77, J Findlay (am) (Sco) 74 76 75,

226 L McNaughton (Aus) 75 76 75, P Cormack (Sco) 79 74 73, A Hodkinson (Eng) 76 72 78, J Harper (Eng) 75 78 73, B Howlett (Eng) 83 71 72, C Wilson (am) (Eng) 73 73 80,

54 hole cut ------

227 L Matthews (Wal) 78 74 75, B Hume (Sco) 74 80 73, L Clarke (Eng) 76 76 75,

228 D Chapman (Eng) 78 79 71, P Pujalte (Esp) 77 79 72, S McEwan (am) (Sco) 75 74 79,

230 H Robertson (Nzl) 81 77 72, Neil O Briain (am) (Irl) 78 78 74,

231 J Senior (Eng) 76 79 76, S Henry (Sco) 76 76 79, C Nilsson (Swe) 78 76 77, J Need (Eng) 81 74 76, P McLean (am) (Sco) 79 78 74, James Fox (am) (Irl) 75 77 79,

232 S Havelock (Eng) 76 83 73, J Ashton (Eng) 77 77 78, S Hemming (Eng) 75 80 77, M Griffiths (Wal) 80 76 76,

233 C Harkins (am) (Sco) 78 78 77,

234 Ger Hall (Irl) 86 75 73,

237 J Cheetham (Eng) 81 79 77,

239 P Badawy (USA) 77 81 81,

241 C McCalman (Sco) 83 78 80,

248 R Mestre (am) (Esp) 86 81 81,

** N Horrocks (Eng) 83 RT WD, S Fitzgerald (Eng) 87 RT WD, A Hanekom (RSA) 81 83 WD, M Evans (Eng) 82 77 WD,

 

Chart Hills Golf Club, England: 21 to qualify

204 M Baldwin (Eng) 69 67 68,

206 J Busby (Eng) 67 68 71,

212 M Vandenberg (Eng) 71 70 71, B Jones (Eng) 74 69 69,

214 M Lowe (Eng) 75 74 65, O Turnill (Eng) 70 71 73, A Tarchetti (Eng) 70 73 71, T Prowse (Aus) 72 73 69, N Redfern (Eng) 69 73 72,

215 M Ford (Eng) 69 77 69, J McLean (Aus) 72 72 71, S Maurits (am) (Ned) 69 72 74, J Watts (am) (Eng) 74 71 70,

216 W Hefferman (Can) 69 75 72, J Ruebotham (Eng) 74 71 71, S Lee (am) (Eng) 72 74 70, J Abbott (am) (Eng) 72 75 69,

217 G Davies (Eng) 72 73 72, Y Ali (Eng) 74 72 71, J Hendry (Sco) 71 75 71, K Harper (Eng) 75 73 69, G Povey (am) (Eng) 70 76 71,

Qualifying places end ----------

218 N Chaudhuri (Eng) 76 74 68, B Banks (Eng) 71 75 72, M Laskey (Wal) 71 71 76, R Jones (Eng) 71 78 69, B St John (Eng) 73 78 67, J Gallagher (Sco) 76 72 70, R Watkins (Eng) 71 76 71, J Webber (am) (Eng) 71 71 76,

219 F McGuirk (Eng) 71 73 75, D Lloyd (RSA) 70 74 75, C Gill (Eng) 77 71 71, I Winstanley (am) (Eng) 73 77 69,

54-hole cut

220 R Surber (USA) 78 72 70, K Staunton (Eng) 72 76 72, M Feuerstein (USA) 73 76 71, J Smith (Eng) 76 73 71, P Appleyard (Eng) 71 70 79, R Buxton (Eng) 70 75 75, M Searle (Eng) 73 73 74, R Neil-Jones (Eng) 76 72 72,

221 J Barnes (Eng) 73 74 74, D Thomas (Eng) 76 75 70, J Kavanagh (Eng) 75 73 73,

222 J Hearn (Eng) 74 71 77, G Woodman (Eng) 75 72 75, R Edginton (Eng) 77 74 71, C Lockwood (Eng) 74 75 73, B O'Donoghue (Aus) 73 77 72, R Whitelock (Eng) 72 74 76,

223 D James (Eng) 76 73 74, S McCance (Eng) 73 77 73,

224 J Clarke (Eng) 74 73 77, M Bush (Eng) 72 78 74, K Shepherd (Eng) 77 74 73, P Maddy (Eng) 73 74 77, S Kemp (Bah) 78 75 71, C Simpson (Eng) 73 78 73, T Wood (Aus) 74 78 72,

225 R Harrison (Eng) 71 77 77, J Horn (Eng) 76 78 71,

226 C Wainwright (Eng) 72 77 77, R Gurney (Eng) 71 75 80, Daniel Sugrue (Irl) 73 78 75,

227 B Collins (Eng) 77 71 79, T Coulson (Eng) 71 79 77, B Cummings (Eng) 78 76 73, M Barber (Eng) 77 77 73, J Winer (am) (Eng) 80 77 70,

229 K McDonald (Eng) 76 78 75, G Parker (am) (Eng) 77 80 72,

230 K Tilbury (Eng) 77 79 74, I Brown (Eng) 76 79 75,

231 A Thorpe (Eng) 70 77 84,

232 S Weale (Eng) 78 75 79,

233 W Wray (Eng) 75 80 78, R Leonard (Eng) 75 81 77,

234 M Colman (Eng) 83 76 75,

235 M Bell (Eng) 78 78 79,

236 R Wistow (Eng) 76 81 79, A Mayer (Aut) 80 79 77,

237 A Lauss (Aut) 80 82 75,

238 J Lamb (Eng) 81 76 81,

243 C Kares (Aus) 79 85 79,

** A Graham (Eng) 84 91 WD, K Rawal (am) (USA) 80 78 WD,

** J Shock (Ger) 91 RT 0,