Marching on. Ruaidhri McGee at Las Colinas. Picture courtesy: Twitter.com/gmacespanyaRosapenna’s Ruaidhri McGee made it look easy as he cruised through to the Final Stage of the European Tour Qualifyng School with four shots to spare.

And there was also joy for Waterford Castle’s Walker Cup star Kevin Phelan, though he faced an anxious wait following a 72nd hole double bogey before learning he’d made it and avoided a five-man playoff for the last two spots in the six-round Final Stage, which begin at PGA Catalunya Resort next Sunday.

Ballymena mateur Dermot McElroy will have to wait to discover his fate at Lumine Golf & Beach Club, where a second suspension in play for high winds called a halt to proceedings late in the afternoon.

Ruaidhri McGee in action at Las Colinas. Picture courtesy https://twitter.com/gmacespanyaThe Ulster player, who was level par for his round with five holes to play and in with a chance of snatching his place alongside Phelan and McGee, must return to the course at 9am to complete his Second Stage ordeal.

It’s a similar tale for Galgorm Castle’s touring professional Gareth Shaw, though the Lurgan man needs one of his best ever final performances as he goes into the weather-delayed final round at Valle Romano in Malaga a challenging six strokes outside the top 18 on level par after a third round 72.

McGee, who was hugely impressive all week as he shot 67-70-67, closed with a level par 71 in high winds at Las Colinas Golf & Country Club in Alicante to claim seventh place on nine under par, six strokes adrift of winner James Heath.

Taking to Facebook to thank his supporters, McGee wrote what he hopes will be a 108-hole Final Stage examination:

 “Thanks for the messages today, 8 [rounds] down … 6 to go!”

A former Faldo protege, Heath signed off with a 75 and was followed home by rising South African star Brandon Stone at a venue where the qualifying mark fell on two under par 282, with six players contesting a play-off for the last four places in the Final Stage.

The Swedish duo of Oscar Floren and Joakim Rask emerged triumphant alongside German amateur Christopher Dammert and Spaniard Alfredo Garcia-Heredia, with France’s Michael Lorenzo-Vera and Germany’s Max Glauert the men to miss out – although they could still make the Final Stage as alternates, in the event of injuries or withdrawals.

Royal Dublin’s Niall Kearney missed out by four shots on 286 after a 76 with Ballyliffin’s Damien Mooney (76) and Birr’s Stephen Grant (74) on 289.

Former professional footballer Grant at least has another bite of the cherry at the Second Stage of the US Q-School, though he was still bitterly disappointed with his costly second round 78.

He tweeted:

“Packing up to head to Ireland from @European_Tour Q in Spain so I can pack up & head to USA for stage 2 Q there, 2nd round killed me #gutted.”

Brendan McCarroll, who was well off the pace before the final day, crashed to an 86 for 306 but did not lose his sense of humour on Twitter: 

Have a full set of Titleist clubs for sale - one careful owner. haha!

There was a cheerier Irish story at Campo de Golf El Saler in Valencia where home favourite Carlos del Moral romped to victory by five shots after signing off with a round of 71 for an eight under par aggregate total.

With 18 players progressing, there was a five-way play-off for the final two spots which went to Jerome Casanova and former European Open winner Matthias Grönberg at the expense of Christophe Brazillier, Chris Lloyd and Andrey Pavlov.

That didn’t bother Phelan, who was left hitting the refresh button on the European Tour website after a closing double bogey six for a 73 left him on one over par 290.

Initally tied for 20th, just outside the qualifiers, he was relieved to see the field backwards - just one player broke 70 - and in the end he made it by two shots.

Tweeting later, he wrote in reference to his anxious scoreboard watching: “Refresh, refresh, refresh #refresh.”

He then added:

“Just scraped through to final stage, happy out. Hopefully back to Waterford for a couple of days rest #Zzzzzz”

There was no luck at the same venue for Glasson’s Colm Moriarty as a 75 left him four shots outside the play-off mark on seven over 295.

Rathmore’s Alan Dunbar, crippled by a second round 80, was 47th on 301 after a closing 75.

Final scores from Las Colinas:

269 J Heath (Eng) 64 66 64 75,

270 B Stone (RSA) 64 69 68 69,

271 L Bond (Wal) 67 67 67 70,

272 J Robinson (Eng) 69 68 71 64,

273 J Hahn (USA) 69 68 69 67,

274 G Cambis (Fra) 64 73 65 72,

275 Ruaidhri McGee (Irl) 67 70 67 71,

277 J Knutzon (USA) 67 69 68 73, N Ravano (Ita) 70 71 68 68,

279 D Kemmer (USA) 69 70 68 72, G Wright (Wal) 69 71 69 70,

281 S Hodgson (Eng) 72 69 67 73, D Ulrich (Sui) 70 69 69 73,

282 J Rask (Swe) 75 69 69 69, A Garcia-Heredia (Esp) 72 71 70 69, C Dammert (am) (Ger) 74 69 67 72, O Floren (Swe) 71 72 68 71

<<All the above qualified>>

282 M Glauert (Ger) 73 70 67 72, M Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 73 68 69 72,

283 W Homan Jnr (USA) 71 66 69 77, G Cunningham (am) (USA) 69 69 68 77, M Rominger (Sui) 74 70 68 71, T Sherreard (Eng) 70 71 70 72, J Kennegard (Swe) 69 75 71 68,

284 D Lokke (Den) 66 76 69 73, P Maddy (Eng) 71 70 75 68, S Allan (Aus) 66 75 68 75, C Griffiths (Eng) 71 70 67 76, K Borsheim (Nor) 69 72 72 71,

285 P Relecom (Bel) 66 75 71 73, J Kelly (USA) 70 70 69 76, J Ruth (Eng) 67 70 67 81, M Richardson (Eng) 69 73 67 76, A Wrigley (Eng) 68 70 71 76, J Webber (Eng) 73 70 68 74,

286 R Coles (Eng) 72 68 70 76, Niall Kearney (Irl) 70 71 69 76, N Bruzelius (Swe) 75 71 67 73, F Laporta (Ita) 72 74 71 69, N Henriques (Por) 72 69 68 77,

287 M Clemens (Mex) 70 71 69 77, H Joannes (Bel) 72 70 74 71, R Prophet (Eng) 72 70 71 74, G Porteous (am) (Eng) 69 71 67 80,

288 H Leon (Chi) 72 69 73 74, P Williamson (USA) 70 77 69 72, F Eriksson (Swe) 67 73 72 76,

289 L Astl (Aut) 66 71 74 78, V Blazquez (Esp) 68 75 74 72, Stephen Grant (Irl) 67 78 70 74, B Chapellan (Fra) 74 71 70 74, M Van Dijk (Ned) 71 74 69 75, K Samooja (Fin) 73 76 68 72, Damian Mooney (Nir) 74 69 70 76,

290 S Jeppesen (Swe) 74 72 68 76, R Busher (am) (Eng) 74 72 66 78,

291 J Sloan (Eng) 72 74 71 74,

292 M Jedrzeyczyk (Pol) 72 76 74 70, J Camargo (Esp) 72 71 73 76, R Goger (am) (Aut) 80 71 68 73, J Kaske (Fin) 68 74 72 78,

293 M Jensen (USA) 68 79 71 75, P Erofejeff (Fin) 71 77 70 75,

294 A Kirstein (Ger) 71 76 71 76, M Jager (Aus) 76 76 67 75,

296 J Banbury (Eng) 74 77 72 73,

297 F Bergamaschi (Ita) 73 74 69 81,

298 S McNamara (USA) 73 76 69 80,

299 A Bolognesi (Ita) 71 75 75 78,

301 D Booth (Eng) 74 74 71 82,

303 S Robertshawe (Eng) 73 76 77 77,

304 G Schultes (Ger) 74 69 77 84,

306 Brendan McCarroll (Irl) 69 79 72 86,

** M Sell (Eng) 73 70 68 DQ, G Axell (Swe) 72 75 75 WD, D Balin (USA) 73 77 70 WD, David Rawluk (Irl) 75 76 RT 0,

 

Final scores from El Saler:

280 C Del Moral (Esp) 70 67 72 71,

285 J Barnes (Eng) 71 72 70 72,

286 T Linard (Fra) 68 72 72 74, N Quintarelli (Ita) 67 70 72 77,

287 T Pieters (Bel) 71 75 71 70, F Fritsch (Ger) 75 67 71 74, C Ortiz (Mex) 69 70 79 69,

288 G Murray (Sco) 73 70 72 73, J Ahlers (RSA) 68 72 75 73,

289 N Fenwick (Sco) 70 68 73 78, A Saddier (Fra) 69 74 71 75, V Phillips (Eng) 70 74 72 73,

290 E Cole (USA) 72 70 72 76, W Harrold (Eng) 70 70 76 74, Kevin Phelan (Irl) 71 72 74 73, P Edberg (Swe) 66 74 75 75,

291 J Lando Casanova (Fra) 71 73 74 73, M Grönberg (Swe) 73 71 75 72

<All the above qualified>

291 C Lloyd (Eng) 69 73 78 71, C Brazillier (Fra) 72 70 74 75, A Pavlov (Rus) 71 73 75 72,

292 W Roebuck (Eng) 72 73 70 77,

293 A Snobeck (Fra) 72 75 76 70, S Heisele (Ger) 71 69 80 73, B Hopfinger (USA) 72 67 78 76,

294 J Westwood (Eng) 71 73 76 74, L Saltman (Sco) 73 72 74 75, A Bruschi (Ita) 70 72 75 77, R Evans (am) (Eng) 71 70 80 73,

295 A Belt (Eng) 72 78 71 74, P Ferrier (Sco) 76 71 72 76, Colm Moriarty (Irl) 73 71 76 75, P Francis (USA) 74 68 79 74,

296 A Velasco (Esp) 73 72 77 74, P Oriol (Esp) 76 72 73 75, M Veijalainen (Fin) 75 72 74 75,

297 J Howarth (Eng) 74 71 72 80, J Moul (Eng) 72 75 71 79,

298 F De Vries (Ned) 68 76 79 75, C Rodiles (Esp) 78 70 72 78,

299 S Crichton (am) (Sco) 71 73 77 78, J Abbott (Eng) 73 79 72 75, L Claverie (Esp) 75 75 72 77,

300 L Canter (Eng) 71 71 79 79, Z Blair (am) (USA) 74 75 76 75, L Lee (Bra) 69 74 75 82,
301 F Jahn (Ger) 73 76 76 76, F Adarraga (Esp) 76 72 74 79, C Batut (Fra) 78 72 75 76, R Han (Chn) 73

73 71 84, Alan Dunbar (Nir) 73 80 73 75,

302 N Bjorling (Swe) 76 72 76 78, R Wallis (Eng) 69 75 80 78,

304 K Ichihara (Jpn) 82 72 75 75, D Wuensche (Ger) 78 71 76 79, M Pastor (Esp) 72 74 78 80, S Campbell (Eng) 78 75 77 74,

305 A Rai (Eng) 81 68 78 78, A Jacobsson (Swe) 77 71 77 80, P Couvert (Fra) 72 73 77 83, D Lloyd (RSA) 81 70 74 80,

306 M Lampert (Ger) 73 76 79 78, D Callaway (Eng) 74 70 78 84, K Crossland (Eng) 80 71 77 78,

307 F Figueroa (Esa) 84 70 75 78,

308 G Boyd (Eng) 79 75 76 78,

309 Y Benson (Can) 73 74 84 78,

310 W Booth (Sco) 76 75 78 81,

** R McEvoy (Eng) 71 68 78 WD, J Winther (Den) 75 75 79 WD, J Chamberlain (Eng) 83 79 82 WD, J Legarrea (Esp) 84 74 73 WD, JD Guiney (Irl) 82 75 78 WD, F Praegant (Aut) 77 74 80 WD, N Johansson (Swe) 76 73 81 WD, K Thompson (USA) 74 73 82 WD, P Reed (Eng) 71 74 78 WD,

 

Scores after round 3 from Valle Romano Golf

201 E Espana (Fra) 67 67 67,

203 S Arnold (Aus) 69 66 68, A Björk (Swe) 65 69 69,

204 D Perrier (Fra) 66 67 71, G Stal (Fra) 67 65 72, M Bremner (RSA) 68 67 69, A Johnston (Eng) 66 70 68,

205 H Leon (Chi) 69 66 70, D Skinns (Eng) 67 69 69, A Bernadet (Fra) 68 69 68, L Bedford (USA) 67 65 73,

206 N Nissen (Den) 65 67 74,

207 A Maestroni (Ita) 68 70 69, J Fly (USA) 70 68 69, R Steiner (Aut) 68 70 69, S Little (Eng) 70 69 68, T Whitehouse (Eng) 68 71 68, C Hinton (Eng) 68 67 72,

<<<Top 18 above to qualify after 4 rounds>>>

208 T Bertoni (USA) 68 69 71, O Zetterwall (Swe) 67 66 75, C Arendell (USA) 70 69 69,

209 M Orrin (Eng) 68 67 74, D Berger (USA) 69 65 75, C Lange (Den) 67 69 73, J Watts (Eng) 67 70 72, O Lieser (Cze) 72 70 67, R Pettersson (Swe) 67 66 76,

210 C Berardo (Fra) 70 70 70, M Laskey (Wal) 70 68 72, G Main (USA) 71 67 72,

211 R Hjelm (Den) 68 67 76,

212 P Widegren (Swe) 64 74 74, M Salminen (Fin) 72 68 72, F Delamontagne (Fra) 68 69 75, S Einhaus (Ger) 67 70 75,

213 J Gonnet (Fra) 71 70 72, Gareth Shaw (Nir) 73 68 72, L Jensen (Den) 70 70 73,

214 C Aronsen (Nor) 72 72 70, L Cornford (Eng) 72 69 73, A Vongvanij (Tha) 73 71 70,

215 A Tadini (Ita) 69 73 73, S Garcia Rodriguez (Esp) 70 69 76, M Trappel (Aut) 75 65 75, G Piris Mateu (Esp) 73 69 73, T Pulkkanen (Fin) 72 70 73, B Newman (USA) 74 69 72, R Kind (Ned) 71 68 76, W Strickler (USA) 67 73 75, C Corbin (am) (Eng) 73 69 73,

216 A Rota (Ita) 71 70 75, R Neil-Jones (Eng) 73 72 71,

217 J Lomas (Eng) 76 70 71, P Mejow (Ger) 69 71 77, B Fowles (Eng) 71 71 75, P McKechnie (Sco) 69 70 78, B Hebert (Fra) 73 67 77, G Canizares (Esp) 72 65 80,

218 C Macaulay (Sco) 72 71 75, R Cazaubon (Mex) 70 72 76, B Gielow (USA) 74 70 74, M Schneider (Ger) 70 73 75, J Gallegos (am) (Esp) 70 67 81,

219 D Coupland (Eng) 71 78 70, S Brown (Eng) 74 76 69, D Markle (Can) 70 75 74, A Romano (Ita) 72 73 74,

220 C Mivis (Bel) 75 69 76, P Fendt (Aut) 69 74 77, H Hilford Brander (Swe) 78 71 71,

221 J Wilkinson (Eng) 70 72 79, J Garcia Del Moral (Esp) 78 70 73,

222 S Wiedergrün (Ger) 78 69 75, F Ewing Iv (USA) 73 67 82, D Hupfer (Can) 74 70 78, W Harmston (Eng) 77 72 73,

225 D Wood (Eng) 76 74 75, R Harris (Eng) 72 76 77,

228 I Gregory (Eng) 75 75 78,

233 M Daley (Eng) 76 76 81,

** C Russo (Fra) 70 72 RT,

 

Marching on. Ruaidhri McGee at Las Colinas. Picture courtesy Twitter.com/gmacespanya

Scoreboard at Lumine Golf & Beach Club Dermot McElroy 71 68 69 (T25 after 54 holes)