McVeigh and Grant do well at School

Danielle McVeigh lit up the second round of the LET Q-School with a red-hot finish. Royal County Down’s Danielle McVeigh birdied five of her last six holes in a superb 66 to surge into contention for her Ladies European Tour card at Lalla Aicha Tour School in Morocco.

The Kilkeel star is soared 43 places up the leaderboard to joint 19th on four under par after two rounds of the five-round marathon in Marrakech.

The 141-woman field is spilt over the Al Maaden and Amelkis Resorts over the first four days, playing two rounds on each of the courses.

The field is cut to the op 60 and ties after 72 holes with cards on offer for the top 30 and ties following the fifth and final round over the Al Maaden Golf Resort.

McVeigh opened with a two over 74 on the Amelkis Course but stormed through the field on day two, going to the turn in two under 34 with birdies at the 11th, 13th and 17th with a lone bogey at the 12th.

A birdie four at the fourth saw her dip into the red numbers for the tournament and while she bogeyed the par-four fifth, she finished in sensational fashion with birdies at her last four holes.

Virginia Espejo of Spain fired a six under par 66 on the Al Maaden to take a one stroke lead on 10 under from Sweden’s Camilla Lennarth and English amateur Emily Taylor as Tiger Woods’ niece Cheyenne Woods and English amateur Charley Hull ended in a four-way tie for 15th on five under.

At the first stage of the Alps Tour Q-School at La Cala in Spain, Birr’s Stephen Grant, Ulsterman David Leatham and Mike Kelly made it to the five round final stage, which begins on Monday

Grant qualified in third place on the America Course, where 37 players made it to the final stage, firing rounds of 71 and 68 to finish four shots behind venue winner Tom Shadbolt on five under.

Leatham (73-77) progressed in joint 27th on six over but The Island’s David Rawluk missed out on a play-off for the last of 37 places by a shot on nine over after rounds of 78 and 75.

Amateur Brendan Walton (80-78) was 62nd on 14 over and it was just as disappointing for the two Irishmen in action on the Europa Course, where just 10 of the 21 participants qualified.

Gary Walsh (77-76) and Newlands’ amateur Andrew Hogan (74-79) missed out by one shot on 11 over par.

Big Break Ireland winner Mark Murphy was exempt from pre-qualifying and will join Grant, Leatham and Kelly in the Final Stage.