Ruaidhri McGee and Mark Power have both secured their places in next week’s Final Qualifying Stage at DP World Tour Q-School, while it was heartbreak for Ronan Mullarney who missed out by the minimum.
With two of the four host venues seeing high winds wreaking havoc over the opening rounds, the action at both Los Pinaillas, where Conor O’Rourke, Dermot McElroy and Paul Dunne are competing, and at Desert Springs with Marc Boucher will be extended into Monday, but the tournaments were completed at the other two venues.
At Fontanals Golf Club in Girona, Ruaidhri McGee recovered from an early double bogey to play his final 16 holes in -2 and post a level-par final round of 71 that saw him post -4 overall, good for a tie for 15th and just enough to see him qualify for the final stage without the need to navigate a playoff.
The same can’t be said of Mark Power, though the Kilkenny man came from outside the line with a closing three-under 68 to climb into a tie for 19th and would head to a seven-man playoff with four places up for grabs and he’d hold his nerve to book his ticket to join McGee at Infinitum, just down the coast, next week.
It was a disappointing end to the week for Alex Maguire as the Laytown and Bettystown amateur ran out of steam in the final round and a three-hole stretch from 12 to 14 saw him go bogey, double-bogey, bogey on his way to a four-over 75 that saw him fall three strokes shy.
There was no joy for John Murphy or Robert Moran, and a return to the Challenge Tour beckons for Murphy in 2024 while Moran may remain amateur for another year if he chooses.
At Isla Canela, Ronan Mullarney shot a closing four-under 68 that proved to post -10, but as the afternoon progressed it became clear that he’d come up one shy. It was desperately unfortunate for the Galway man, but with Niall Kearney shooting a one-over 73 to finish -8 and Paul McBride posting -4, the venue would yield no joy for the Irish trio.
With 54 holes in the bank, Conor O’Rourke is well placed to join McGee and Power as he lies solo third at -5 in Las Pinaillas, one off the lead.
Dermot McElroy (+1) and Paul Dunne (+2) are both well in contention at T14 and T21 respectively, so we could yet have five Irish involved in next week’s six-round war of attrition.
Marc Boucher at +3 is too far back to have any hopes of advancing at Desert Springs, and, like Moran and Maguire, the Carton House amateur can now take his time and contemplate whether to remain amateur or turn pro.
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