Neil O’Briain made a big move forward at the First Stage of the European Tour Qualifying School when he shot a four-under 68 at The Players Club in Bristol to move up to third place.

The Old Conna professional is on four-under par, six shots behind England’s Haydn McCullen in the race for around 20 spots at the Second Stage [final numbers TBC].

Mount Juliet’s Luke Donnelly continued his climb back up the leaderboard after a triple-double start to round one with a one-under 71 moving him up to tied 30th on four-over with Headfort’s Joe Dillon but Brian McElhinney (74 for nine over) and Brendan McCarroll (82 for 13 over) are well down the leaderboard.

At Fleesensee in Germany, Michael McGeady added a 72 to his 70 share 11th spot on two-under, eight shots behind Sweden’s Per Langfors, as Colm Moriarty improved to tied 22nd after a 70.

European Tour Qualifying School - First Stage

Sep 11-14 — First Stage Europe Section A Fleesensee, Germany

Scores

T11 Michael McGeady, 70 72 142

T22 Colm Moriarty, 74 70 144

First Stage Europe Section A The Players Club, Bristol, England

Scores

3 Neil O’Briain, 72 68 140

T30 Joe Dillon, 71 77 148

T30 Luke Donnelly, 77 71 148

T62 Brian McElhinney, 79 74 153

T77 Brendan McCarroll, 75 82 157

Sep 18-21 — First Stage Europe Section B Stoke by Nayland

1. Colin Fairweather

2. Kieran Lynch

3. Dermot McElroy

Sep 18-21 — First Stage Europe Section B GolfClub Schloss Ebreichsdorf. Austria

1. Peter Dallat

2. Stephen Grant

Sep 25-28 — First Stage Europe Section C Golf Club Bogogno, Italy

1. Cameron Raymond

Oct 09-12 — First Stage Europe Section D Golf d’Hardelot, France

1. Peter Williamson

Oct 09-12 — First Stage Europe Section D Bom Sucesso, Óbidos, Portugal

1. Jonathan Caldwell

2. David Carey

3. Conor O’Rourke

4. Jonathan Yates