It proved to be a worthwhile journey to Rome for four of the eight Irish who travelled to contest the First Stage of Alps Tour Q-School at Terre dei Consoli Golf Club an hour north of the Eternal City.
AJ McCabe, Simon Bryan, Luke Donnelly and Brandon St. John all punched their tickets to next week’s 54-hole Final Qualifying Stage which will be held across Oligata Golf Club and Golf Nazionale, both within Rome’s city boundaries.
After day one of the 36-hole First Stage, Bryan was the best placed of the quartet at -2 and knew that anything in the low 70s was likely to get the job done on day two. It was far from plain sailing, however, as the Druids Heath man made four bogeys and a triple-bogey, but offset these with five birdies to reach the clubhouse at level-par overall and comfortably inside the advancing positions.
He was overtaken for low Irishman by AJ McCabe, however, as the Dubliner put in an excellent performance to move to -1 overall, and three-under on the day thanks to four birdies and just the one bogey.
McCabe’s round was eclipsed by Brandon St. John’s as the Portmarnock amateur went bogey-free on his way to a four-under 68 to rise from well outside the mark to +2 overall a tie for 25th. He was joined on that number by Luke Donnelly who put a disappointing close to yesterday’s opening round in the rear-view mirror and put in a professional performance to post one-over on the day and squeeze inside the mark by one stroke.
It wasn’t to be for amateur duo Jake Rowe and Jake Foley, with Andrew Browne and Ken Goodwin also making the trip with no joy.
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