Three weeks of practice at the tournament venue paid off for Druids Heath's Simon Bryan as he opened with a three-under 69 in blustery conditions to lead the Final Stage of the Alps Tour Qualifying School at Golf Nazionale and Terre dei Consoli in Rome.

The 28-year old leads by one stroke from a seven-strong group that includes former Walker Cup player Paul McBride from The Island and he was pleased his early reconnaissance trip to Italy to escape the lockdown proved worthwhile.

Scores

"It was very windy; it was basically like being back at home but just with much warmer weather," Bryan said of a round featuring five birdies and two bogeys at Terre dei Consoli.

"So, keeping the ball's flight down was pretty handy and with some of the greens being soft we could get at some of the flags, but you had to pay attention with being short sided. It was good, I kept ball in hand pretty much most of the day and when I was out of position on the greens, I just tried to put it close.

"I've been here for three weeks. As soon we went into lockdown, I straightaway got on to the Alps Tour and then I got the General Manager's email and we asked if we could come over and practice and they were more than happy to have us over.

"So I've been playing this golf course for three weeks solid. There were a couple of times today that I didn't even look at the yardage book and just hit the shot.

"So, it was really nice to have that and it helped big time. We also got in a couple of practice rounds on the Golf Nazionale, so that's tomorrow and I'm looking forward to it. I have a good game plan in place which is key on that course."

McBride had four birdies and two bogeys in a 70 at Golf Nazionale to share second with American Blaire McKeithen, Australian Will Heffernan and France's Paul Margolis as Spain's Javier Gallegos Marsal and England's Jack Trewhitt and Thomas Thurloway shot 70 at Terre dei Consoli.

Spanish amateur Eduard Rousaud fshot the only bogey-free round of the day, a one-under 71, to share ninth place with Belgium's Alan De Bondt, Italy's Alessandro Notaro and France's Victor Trehet.

Rhys Clarke is tied for 13th after making four birdies in a level par 72 at  Terre dei Consoli with Peter Dallat three shots outside the projected after a 78 at Golf Nazionale.

Portmarnock’s Conor Purcell has his work cut out however after he mixed two birdies with five bogeys, a double bogey and a triple bogey in an eight-over 80 at Golf Nazionale to share 106th place.

After Wednesday's second round, the leading 65 players and ties will play one further round on at Golf Nazionale.

At the conclusion of the 54 holes, the leading 35 players (and those players tied on the final qualifying place score) will be ranked according to score. 

Players holding these positions will be eligible for membership in Category 6 of the Alps Tour for the 2021 season.

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 of the Alps Tour for the 2021 season.

Players between the 66th and the 144th position will be eligible for membership in Category 9.