The final hunt to capture a 2024 Alps Tour playing category gets underway on Wednesday when the 2023 Alps Tour Qualifying School Final Stage begins, with strong Irish representation set to feature.
Amateurs Marc Boucher, Alex Maguire, Robert Moran and Brandon St. John are joined by pros Simon Bryan, Luke Donnelly, Joseph Hanney, AJ McCabe and Michael Young as they seek to emulate the likes of Ronan Mullarney and Jonathan Yates who both graduated to the European Challenge Tour via the Alps Tour having played their way onto the Alps through Q-School.
A full field of 156 players representing 17 different nations, will be competing at this year’s 54 hole Final Stage. Boucher, Maguire and Moran were all exempt into the final stage having made it to DP World Tour Q-School Second Stage, while Young and Hanney both played several Alps Tour events in 2023, thus bypassing stage one.
Of the remaining quartet, AJ McCabe was the highest finisher at last week’s First Qualifying Stage an hour north of Rome, with Bryan not far behind, and Donnelly and St. John put in stellar final-round performances to join them in advancing at Terre dei Consoli G.C.
For the first two rounds, the 156 competitors will be alternating between Golf Nazionale and Olgiata Golf Club, with a 36-hole cut seeing the top 65 and ties contest the final round which will be played at Golf Nazionale.
At the conclusion of the 54 holes, the top 35 players and ties ranked according to score, will be eligible to receive Category 6 membership for the 2024 Alps Tour Season.
The remainder of the players who made the cut, and finished between 36th and 65th position will be eligible to receive Category 8 membership for next year’s season. The remaining players who finish the tournament between 66th and 156th position will be eligible for membership in Category 9 for the 2024 Alps Tour Season.
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