Cutler digs deep to stay alive at Q-School
Portstewart’s Paul Cutler is just outside the qualifying places with a round to go at the First Stage of Q-School in Crewe. Picture: Fran Caffrey www.newsfile.ieFive Irishmen are inside the qualifying places with a round to go at the First Stage of the European Tour Qualifying School Section B in England and Germany.
But the real heroes of day still have work to do.
Paul Cutler, a Walker Cup star just two years ago, followed a second round 81 with a brave 72 in tough conditions at Wychwood Park to get within a shot of the top 22 and ties who will progress to November’s Second Stage from the Crewe venue.
At Fleesensee in northern Germany, South of Ireland champion Simon Ward shot a battling 70 to give himself an outside chance of making it, moving to within six shots of the top 24 and ties who will progress there, while Cian McNamara put in a sensational finish just to make the 54-hole cut.
Rosapenna’s Ruaidhri McGee has a comfortable five shot lead at Wychwood Park after a one under par 71 took him to five under and left him as the only player in red figures after a tough third round.
Rathmore’s Alan Dunbar moved up to joint third on one-over after a 71 while Colm Moriarty’s 80 saw him fall just six spots from first to joint sixth and remain comfortably inside the top 22 and ties on three over.
Ballymena amateur Dermot McElroy is just a shot further back, tied for eighth on four over after he impressively fired three birdies and three bogeys in a solid 72.
Cutler is joint 23rd on eight over, a shot outside the qualifying places but David Jones and Matt McAlpin both missed the three round cut.
All three Irishmen in action at Fleesensee in Germany made the final round with Dublin’s Niall Kearney tied for fourth on 10-under after a 69, his third successive round in the 60s.
American John Hahn had five birdies in third round 68 to lead by four shots on 16 under from Danish amateur Mads Soegaard with another amateur, Germany’s Sebastian Schwind a further shot back.
The top 24 and ties from Fleesensee will progress to the Second Qualifying Stage across Spain in November and while Ward and McNamara are well adrift of the magic number, at least they are still playing.
Ward, who turned professional following his second career win in the South of Ireland Championship at Lahinch this summer, moved up nine spots to 52nd following his two-under 70.
Limerick man McNamara, now attached to Monkstown Golf Club, birdied three of his last four holes for a four under 68 to make the cut on the mark.
McNamara is still seven strokes outside the qualifying places on two over par.
European Tour Qualifying School Section B - Golf and Country Club Fleesensee
200 J Hahn (USA) 67 65 68,
204 M Soegaard (am) (Den) 68 67 69,
205 S Schwind (am) (Ger) 66 67 72,
206 Niall Kearney (Irl) 69 68 69, H Hilford Brander (Swe) 72 64 70, G Axell (Swe) 67 67 72, K Thompson (USA) 69 70 67,
207 P Mejow (Ger) 69 70 68,
208 F Osther (Ned) 67 70 71, P Fendt (Aut) 67 69 72, N Bruzelius (Swe) 68 70 70,
209 F Becker (Ger) 72 69 68, T Cruz (Por) 70 68 71, N Nissen (Den) 67 71 71, M Van Dijk (Ned) 73 70 66, F Jahn (Ger) 70 74 65,
210 B Hafthorsson (Isl) 68 72 70, D Wuensche (Ger) 69 74 67, G Adell (Swe) 67 74 69, S Heisele (Ger) 67 72 71,
211 T Gissurarson (Isl) 71 69 71, A Knappe (Ger) 71 70 70, B Hellgren (Swe) 68 75 68, Z Lombard (am) (RSA) 71 69 71, C Dammert (am) (Ger) 73 71 67,
< Top 24 and ties, above, will qualify after 4 rounds >
212 C Aronsen (Nor) 74 69 69, P Reed (Eng) 68 70 74, M Salminen (Fin) 71 69 72, M Keskari (am) (Ger) 68 72 72,
213 N Henriques (Por) 72 69 72, K Le Sager (Fra) 68 75 70, A Johansson (Swe) 69 73 71, A Kirstein (Ger) 76 69 68, A Mason (USA) 69 75 69, M Roehrig (am) (Ger) 74 72 67,
214 T Petersson (Swe) 74 69 71, C Bouniol (Fra) 73 70 71, J Colomo (Esp) 75 65 74, A Eckhardt (am) (Fin) 70 72 72, T Bakker (am) (Fin) 72 72 70,
215 R Askstrand (Swe) 78 69 68, V Hielte (Swe) 73 72 70, S Hale (USA) 72 75 68, J Wilson (Eng) 70 73 72, R Armour (USA) 70 70 75, A Giuliani (USA) 77 70 68,
216 N Norman (Den) 70 73 73, S Wolters (Ger) 70 76 70, D Wright (Eng) 71 77 68, S Spallone (USA) 74 70 72, B Miarka (Ger) 73 72 71,
217 N Meitinger (Ger) 79 68 70, Simon Ward (Nir) 74 73 70, S Cairns (Ger) 75 71 71,
218 M Laier (Ger) 76 70 72, A Rosswag (Ger) 71 74 73, Cian McNamara (Irl) 72 78 68, M Johansson (Swe) 70 70 78, M Wendel (Swe) 71 73 74, J Wahlqvist (Swe) 73 75 70, P O’Neill (Den) 75 75 68, H Beins (am) (Ger) 78 74 66, R Lloyd (am) (Ger) 70 75 73,
CUT
219 M Suursalu (Est) 77 72 70, B Staben (Ger) 73 73 73,
220 S Gross Jr (Ger) 73 71 76, D Alonso (Esp) 78 69 73, S Forsstrom (Swe) 73 73 74, K Liu (Hkg) 79 72 69, Y Bludau (Ger) 68 76 76, P Rasmussen (am) (Den) 78 76 66,
221 T Sheppard (USA) 77 69 75, A Schwartz (Fra) 72 79 70, F Keenan (Eng) 73 79 69, M Cabrera - Bello (am) (Esp) 75 72 74,
222 J Lauridsen (Den) 74 75 73, S Gundorph (Den) 76 76 70, S Sorg (am) (Sui) 76 75 71,
223 R Jonasson (Swe) 76 72 75, F Kolberg (am) (Tur) 75 72 76,
224 R Edginton (Eng) 71 73 80, V Almstrom (Swe) 74 78 72,
225 H Sayin (Tur) 73 74 78, S Piaget (Mon) 74 77 74,
226 K Kemmler (Ger) 75 76 75,
227 T Marshall (Nzl) 78 80 69, N Chaudhuri (Eng) 74 78 75,
228 A Siemers (am) (Ger) 73 77 78,
231 X Ruiz Fonhof (Ned) 76 76 79, T Findeisen (Nor) 80 75 76, C Vivolo (USA) 80 74 77,
232 S Schmidt (Ger) 79 78 75, N Ladefoged (Den) 78 76 78,
236 M Pickel (Ger) 81 78 77, J Wang (am) (Eng) 78 79 79,
241 P Mary (am) (Fra) 77 83 81,
** C Kaiser (Ger) 82 83 DQ, C Hurter (Ger) 72 74 WD,
** B Barrack (Can) 80 RT 0, J Hearn (Eng) 79 RT 0, C Kaya (Tur) RT 0 0
European Tour Qualifying School Section B - Wychwood Park
211 Ruaidhri McGee (Irl) 66 74 71,
216 T Smith (USA) 73 75 68,
217 Alan Dunbar (Nir) 73 73 71, G Cunningham (USA) 75 70 72,
218 W Harrold (Eng) 69 78 71,
219 D Lloyd (RSA) 70 72 77, Colm Moriarty (Irl) 72 67 80,
220 L Bedford (USA) 75 72 73, R Prophet (Eng) 73 75 72, Dermot McElroy (am) (Nir) 75 73 72,
221 J Robinson (Eng) 78 71 72, J Frazer (Wal) 75 74 72, C Hinton (Eng) 71 75 75, A Björk (Swe) 72 73 76, T Whitehouse (Eng) 71 73 77,
222 E Saltman (Sco) 76 75 71, W Roebuck (Eng) 71 76 75, S Hodgson (Eng) 77 73 72, J Fly (USA) 73 77 72, S Forgan (Eng) 75 70 77,
223 D Balin (USA) 77 71 75, T Lee (USA) 70 77 76,
< Top 22 and ties, above, will qualify after four rounds >
224 A Wilkin (Nzl) 77 71 76, R Harris (Eng) 74 75 75, S Hak (Hkg) 76 72 76, N Fenwick (Sco) 70 80 74, Paul Cutler (Nir) 71 81 72,
225 S Robertshawe (Eng) 76 77 72, B Hemstock (Eng) 73 75 77,
226 J Shufflebotham (Wal) 73 80 73, P Bradshaw (Eng) 74 76 76, L Rooke (Wal) 77 73 76,
227 L Ferreira (RSA) 72 77 78, M Haines (Eng) 70 82 75, S Fallon (Eng) 72 78 77, D Gwilliam (Eng) 75 73 79, R Carter (USA) 77 76 74, D Walker (Eng) 74 74 79,
228 L Renolds (Can) 73 73 82, W Bailey (Eng) 83 71 74, J Smith (am) (Eng) 73 79 76,
229 J Mancebo (Esp) 76 73 80, M Edge (Eng) 73 76 80, M Cort (Eng) 71 78 80, H Dobson (Eng) 77 75 77, B Newman (USA) 76 75 78, J Marin (Esp) 73 77 79, P Nessling (Eng) 72 80 77,
230 M Webb (Eng) 76 79 75, R Booth (Eng) 79 77 74, A Andrews (Eng) 75 77 78, M Swales (Eng) 72 79 79
CUT
231 A Chauhan (Eng) 75 79 77, W Johnson (Eng) 75 80 76, A Kasprzak (Den) 77 76 78, O Browne (USA) 74 79 78,
232 David Jones (Nir) 77 76 79, A Evans (Eng) 72 78 82, J San Felix (Esp) 76 75 81, A Mason (Eng) 76 76 80, A Gronkvist (Swe) 82 75 75, J Sims (Eng) 78 78 76,
233 J Carlson (Swe) 74 76 83, M Stewart (Sco) 78 76 79, J Titlow (am) (Eng) 75 77 81, Matt McAlpin (am) (Nir) 76 78 79, K Flack (am) (USA) 75 81 77,
234 S Watts (Eng) 82 74 78,
235 D Osbaldeston (Eng) 80 80 75,
236 P Kaensche (Nor) 79 78 79, D Aldridge (Eng) 75 80 81, C Greyling (RSA) 77 77 82,
237 M Moore (Eng) 77 75 85, S Towndrow (am) (Eng) 81 77 79,
238 R I’Anson (Eng) 79 82 77, M Saunders (am) (Eng) 82 83 73,
239 E Forbes (Eng) 78 81 80,
240 T Mordt (RSA) 83 80 77, C Whatham (Eng) 79 80 81,
241 N Taylor (Eng) 76 81 84,
242 R Fisher (USA) 77 80 85, C Durnian (Eng) 78 81 83, F Macleod (am) (Eng) 86 77 79,
243 J Swallow (Eng) 76 83 84, M Frost (Eng) 77 77 89, A Weir (Sco) 81 79 83,
244 M Collins (Eng) 83 77 84,
250 D Littlefield (USA) 82 83 85,
253 J Ferraby (Eng) 84 89 80,
** S Merry (Tri) 78 77 DQ, J White (Eng) 83 80 WD, C Osborne (Nzl) 79 82 WD, O Sigurdsson (Isl) 81 79 WD,
** A Rai (Eng) WD 0 0, J Michaels (Eng) WD