Six Irish to bid for Alps Tour cards
La Cala Resort
Six Irish golfers will begin their quest for Alps Tour cards at the Final Stage of the Qualifying School at La Cala on Wednesday.
Galgorm Castle’s Michael Dallat fired a five-under-par 67 to come from five shots outside the top 43 to qualify easily, tied for 28th on the Asia Course on seven-over par.
Former professional footballer Stephen Grant was the top Irish qualifier at that venue, adding a 74 to his first round 72 to make it in joint ninth behind leading qualifier Albert Venter of South Africa on two-over.
Germany based Justin Brink qualified on five over while at the America Course, Sean Denny also made it through on seven-over.
The three qualifiers join former St Andrews Links Trophy winner Conor O'Rourke, David Carey and Simon Bryan in the field for the Final Stage.
Only the top 65 after 36 holes will qualify for the final round on the Asia Course after which the top 35 after three rounds will be awarded a full Alps Tour card.
Players making the cut of the Final Qualifying Stage and finishing between the 36th and the 65th position will be eligible for membership in Category 8 for the 2018 season while those finishing between 66th and the 144th will be eligible for Category 9 membership.
Players in categories 8 and 9 will be subject to the 2018 re-rank policy adopted by the Alps Tour Committee.
First Stage Qualifying
Asia Course
Qualifiers
1 Albert VENTER RSA -10 134 67 67
T9 Stephen GRANT IRL +2 146 72 74
T20 Justin BRINK IRL +5 149 75 74
T28 Michael DALLAT (Am) IRL +7 151 83 68
Non-qualifiers
70th Ruairi O'CONNOR (Am) IRL +18 162 85 77
America Course
Detailed scores
Qualifiers
1 Sebastian PETERSEN SWE -5 70 67 137
23 Sean DENNY IRL +7 76 73 149.