Three Irish win full Alps Tour cards
South Africa's Albert Venter won the Alps Tour Q-School at La Cala. Picture © Alps Tour
Switzerland based Justin Brink, Galgorm Castle amateur Michael Dallat and Mount Juliet's Stephen Grant won full cards at the Alps Tour Qualifying School in Spain.
The trio finished inside the top 35 and ties after 54 holes at La Cala Resort near Malaga where South African Albert Venter became the first player to win both the First and Final stages, signing for a three-under 68 on the Asia Course to win by three strokes on 12-under-par.
Federico Zucchetti of Italy shot a best of the day 65 and France’s Paul Bariteau a 68 to share second place as 37 players earned full cards for the 2018 Alps Tou, which begins in mid-February with traditional Egyptian swing.
Brink closed with a one-under 71 to finish 12th on three under with Grant a shot further back in 13th thanks to a fine 69.
Amateur Dallat was 18th on one-under after a 73 as David Carey finished just a shot outside the top 35 and ties in 38th on five-over after an adventurous, level par 72.
Carey will have the No 1 card in Category 8 while Naas' Conor O'Rourke will be ranked 28th after a closing 80 at La Cala relegated him to 65th on eight-over.
O'Rourke was struggling after a quadruple bogey eight at his opening hole and a triple bogey seven at the 15th summed up his day.
Sean Denny, who missed the cut, will be ranked 63rd in Category 8 with Simon Bryan 69 after being disqualified on day one for inadvertently using his range-finder.
Irish Alps Tour members 2018
Category 6 - Top 35 (and ties) from 2017 Alps Tour Qualifying School.
- 12th Justin Brink
- 13th Stephen Grant
- 18th Michael Dallat (am)
Category 8 — (38th to 75th position inclusive at the 2017 Alps Tour Qualifying School, subject to the 2018 re-rank policy)
- 1 David Carey
- 28 Conor O'Rourke
- 63 Sean Denny
- 69 Simon Bryan
2017 QUALIFYING SCHOOL - Final Stage (Asia & America courses)
La Cala Resort (Asia), Malaga, 14th - 16th Dec 2017
Final Result
Pos. Score -Par+ Name R1 R2 R3 EUR
1 203 -12 Albert VENTER (RSA) 65 70 68 800.00
2 206 -9 Federico ZUCCHETTI (ITA) 69 72 65 475.00
3 206 -9 Paul BARITEAU (FRA) 70 67 69 475.00
4 208 -7 Clarke LUTTON (SCO) 69 70 69 250.00
5 208 -7 Jack SINGH BRAR (ENG) 70 67 71 250.00
12 212 -3 Justin BRINK (IRL) 70 71 71 100.00
13 213 -2 Stephen GRANT (IRL) 70 74 69
16 214 -1 Michael DALLAT (IRL) (a) 69 72 73 Amateur
38 220 +5 David CAREY (IRL) 75 73 72
65 223 +8 Conor O'ROURKE (IRL) 71 72 80
CUT
138 164 +21 Sean DENNY (IRL) 84 80
144 DSQ Simon BRYAN (IRL) * *