Reeve Whitson opened with a two under 70 at Stage One of Q-School. Picture: Eoin Clarke www.golffile.ieMourne amateur Reeve Whitson matched former Ireland team mate Kevin Phelan when he opened with a two under 70 in the First Qualifying Stage Section C of the European Tour School in Portugal.

As Knock’s Nicky Grant birdied the last to limit the damage to a three over 75, Whitson fired an eagle and four birdies at Ribagolfe to finish the day tied for 10th with the rookie professional from Waterford Caslte.

Phelan, who played brilliantly in Great Britain and Ireland’s Walker Cup defeat before making the cut on his professional debut in the KLM Open two weeks ago, birdied two of his first three holes and also finished with a birdie to get his card quest off and running

Grant got off to a nervy start with double bogeys at the first and fourth and a bogey at the seventh leaving him five over at the turn.

An eagle three at the 12th was followed by a bogey at the next but the former Mullingar Scratch Cup winner birdied the 458-yard 18th to finish just three shots outside the top 25 and ties.

Alessio Bruschi carded a course record round of 64 to finish a stroke clear after round one the other Section C venue, Circolo Golf Bogogno in Italy.

The Italian had a fine day on the greens, carding nine birdies and one bogey, a score which leaves him handily placed to progress with those in 24th place and ties earning a spot in Stage Two.

Ribagolfe scores after round  1:

65 T Pieters  (Bel) ,

67 M Ureta  (Chi), D Berger (USA) ,

68 V Blazquez (Esp), J Krantz (Can), D Suazo  (Esp), E Larrañaga (Esp) ,

69 X Guzman (Esp), D Palm (Swe) ,

70 R Hjelm (Den), X Poncelet  (Fra), C Ortiz (Mex), M Trainer (USA), A Long (USA), Kevin Phelan (Irl), Reeve Whitson (am) (Nir) ,

71 B Virto (Esp), R De Sousa (Sui), N Bjorling (Swe), G Canizares (Esp), A McLardy (RSA), G Piris Mateu (Esp), E Cole (USA), J Gallegos (am) (Esp) ,

72 J Murphy (USA), A Gutierrez (Esp), G O’Mahony (USA), J Griffin (USA), W Strickler (USA), A Hortal  (Esp), A Garcia-Heredia (Esp), N Cochran (USA), B Lee (USA) ,

73 R Mattila (Fin), N Dahlgren (Fin), S Dartnall (Aus), S McNamara (USA), T Simola (Fin), F Adarraga (Esp), K Storgaard (Den), F De Haas (Ned), J Carlota (am) (Por), M Pavon (am) (Fra) ,

74 M Cobo (Esp), A Theodore (USA), A Christie (Eng), J Bragulat  (Esp), X Puig (Esp), M Bey (Fra), T Curtis (Eng), B Tilley (USA), D Silva Jr (Por), P Williamson (USA), J Sarasti (am) (Esp), K Subregis (am) (Fra) ,

75 M Quiros (Esp), J Kelly (USA), C Balmaseda  (Esp), D Osorio (Esp), Nicky Grant (Nir), R Holland (Eng), D Borda (Esp), M Jedrzeyczyk (Pol), W Murillo (Ven), C Rodiles (Esp), T Ferrer (am) (Esp), P Rolland (am) (Bel) ,

76 J Rangel (USA), G Tonelli  (Ita), J Back (Kor), S Soderberg (Swe), S Seijo (Esp), L Lespinasse (Fra), P Kelly (Eng), J De Lope (Esp), S Hansen (Nor), R Becker (Bra), B Detweiler (USA), K Turlan (am) (Fra) ,

77 G Elena (Esp), C Loop (USA), G Parker (Eng), P Badawy (USA), T Grava  (Fra), J Pitt (Eng), D Booth (Eng), B Etchart  (Esp), D Corsby (Eng) ,

78 R Bastard (Eng), P Karantzias (Gre), J Osorio Valencia (Esp), E Gibbs (USA), M Rawitzer (am) (USA) ,

79 A Parr (Can), J Parron (Esp) ,

80 S Frost (USA) ,

81 T Ayala (USA), J Martin (Esp) ,

82 J Lee (Esp) ,

84 R Yoo (USA) ,

** C Nielsen (Swe), R Lopez Perales (Esp) ,

First Qualifying Stage Section C Bogogno

1 Alessio BRUSCHI ITA 64 64 -8

2 Joel GIRRBACH (AM) SUI 65 65 -7

3 Michael JENSEN USA 68 68 -4

Andrea BOLOGNESI ITA 68 68 -4

Nicolas D’INCAU SUI 68 68 -4

6 Antti AHOKAS FIN 69 69 -3

Andrea ROMANO ITA 69 69 -3

Mark HOFFMAN CAN 69 69 -3

Horacio LEON CHI 69 69 -3

Hugo LEON CHI 69 69 -3

11 Matthew RICHARDSON ENG 70 70 -2

Gregory MAIN USA 70 70 -2

Andrea MAESTRONI ITA 70 70 -2

Joey MCLISTER USA 70 70 -2

Adrien SADDIER FRA 70 70 -2

Philip FRANCIS USA 70 70 -2

17 Nathan HOLMAN AUS 71 71 -1

Domenico GEMINIANI ITA 71 71 -1

Lucas LEE BRA 71 71 -1

Patrick SIMARD ESP 71 71 -1

Jonas MAGNUSSON SWE 71 71 -1

Jaime CAMARGO ESP 71 71 -1

Connor ARENDELL USA 71 71 -1

Spencer ANDERSON USA 71 71 -1

Christoph PFAU AUT 71 71 -1

26 Leonardo MOTTA ITA 72 72 0

Stephen THOMAS CAN 72 72 0

Nicolas PEYRICHOU FRA 72 72 0

Oscar STARK SWE 72 72 0

Marco RUIZ PAR 72 72 0

Fernando FIGUEROA ESA 72 72 0

Max SCODRO USA 72 72 0

Lorenzo GUANTI ITA 72 72 0

Lasse Sonne NIELSEN DEN 72 72 0

Gregory MOLTENI ITA 72 72 0

36 Daniel SANDBERG SWE 73 73 1

Brad HOPFINGER USA 73 73 1

Magnus SVAHLIN SWE 73 73 1

Hyeon-cheol HWANG KOR 73 73 1

Clement BERARDO FRA 73 73 1

Eric DUGAS USA 73 73 1

Paolo TERRENI ITA 73 73 1

Fredrik SVANBERG SUI 73 73 1

Alessandro GRAMMATICA ITA 73 73 1

Mikel MARTINSON USA 73 73 1

Henri SATAMA FIN 73 73 1

Jean-Luc BURNIER SUI 73 73 1

Francesco LAPORTA ITA 73 73 1

Ignacio SANCHEZ-PALENCIA ESP 73 73 1

Michele CEA (AM) ITA 73 73 1

Enrico DI NITTO (AM) ITA 73 73 1

52 Carlo GUARALDI ITA 74 74 2

Alberto CAMPANILE ITA 74 74 2

Charles DAVIES WAL 74 74 2

Rafael GUERRERO LAURIA VEN 74 74 2

Tim GORNIK (AM) SLO 74 74 2

 

57 Federico COLOMBO ITA 75 75 3

Kevin BOZZI ITA 75 75 3

Thomas BOSCO-CWIOK POL 75 75 3

Martin ROMINGER SUI 75 75 3

Jon Andrea NODÉR SUI 75 75 3

Nemanja SAVIC SRB 75 75 3

Nino BERTASIO ITA 75 75 3

Julian KUNZENBACHER GER 75 75 3

Kevin ROY USA 75 75 3

Kevin MCLISTER USA 75 75 3

Jean-Pierre VERSELIN FRA 75 75 3

Edouard AMACHER (AM) SUI 75 75 3

Francesco TESTA (AM) ITA 75 75 3

Giorgio DE FILIPPI (AM) ITA 75 75 3

71 Gael SEEGMULLER BEL 76 76 4

Mattia MILORO ITA 76 76 4

Olivier GILMARTIN SUI 76 76 4

Pietro RICCI ITA 76 76 4

Lorenzo SCOTTO ITA 76 76 4

Pierrick PERACINO FRA 76 76 4

Roberto SEBASTIAN TIRADO ESP 76 76 4

Oskar NYSTROM SWE 76 76 4

Immu KORVENMAA FIN 76 76 4

Esteban CALISTO ECU 76 76 4

Petr GAL CZE 76 76 4

Federico MACCARIO (AM) ITA 76 76 4

Philipp MUELLER (AM) GER 76 76 4

Corrado DE STEFANI (AM) ITA 76 76 4

85 Robin WINGARDH SWE 77 77 5

Gervasio CUQUEJO ESP 77 77 5

Christofer BLOMSTRAND SWE 77 77 5

Frankie SUITS USA 77 77 5

89 Mark NICHOLS ENG 78 78 6

Otto BONNING SWE 78 78 6

Andrea PERRINO ITA 78 78 6

Clemens DVORAK AUT 78 78 6

93 Oliver SUHR DEN 79 79 7

Soren Schulze PETTERSSON DEN 79 79 7

95 Yevgeny KAFELNIKOV RUS 80 80 8

Federico CELANO ITA 80 80 8

James FIELD JNR USA 80 80 8

Nelson DESMOULINS FRA 80 80 8

Davide ALBERTINI (AM) SUI 80 80 8

100 Eric SHRIVER USA 82 82 10

Kurt WATKINS USA 82 82 10

Marc DOBIAS (AM) SUI 82 82 10

103 Jack PATON USA 87 87 15

104 Kristian BOBANOVIC AUS RT 190