Some don't like it hot at Q-School
Damian Mooney drives on the 13th at the Stadium Course during round three of the Q-SchoolHe was latin and he was angry. And he finished up putting with the leading edge of his wedge as nerves became frayed on day three of the European Tour Qualifying School finals at PGA Golf de Catalunya.
Having given his putter a Basil Fawlty style “thrashing” following some earlier misbehaviour, our anonymous pro still shot a level par 72 on the tough Stadium Course. Yet so hot was the scoring yesterday that a score of level fours was not even at the races.
Conditions were so ideal for scoring at the 36-hole complex outside Girona that more than 100 players in the 156-strong field broke par, most of them on the easier Tour Course.
They included Royal Dublin’s Niall Kearney, who shot a three under 67, and former Royal County Down assistant professional Simon Thornton, who signed for a two under par 68 on the 6,600-yard track that has been reduced to a par-70 this week.
Both players felt they should have shot 65 or better but instead they slipped further off the pace in the battle to finish inside the top 30 and ties after six rounds.
Kearney made the turn in one under par thanks to birdies at the first and sixth and a solitary bogey at the tough fifth. But instead of pushing on after holing a 25 footer for an eagle three at the 10th, he did well to cover the remaining holes in level par as he followed bogeys at the 14th and 15th with birdies at the 16th and 18th.
Colm Moriarty hits his approach to the 18th green at the Stadium Course“I feel I should have been six or seven under but I have to take three,” said Kearney, who is three shots outside the vital top 30 on four under par. “It was up and down but I was under par again. Overall I’m happy enough with three rounds to go. It’s only halfway and there are plenty of chances to be had on the Stadium Course tomorrow.”
Thornton picked up four shots in his first 10 holes but then bogeyed the 11th and 14th and failed to convert his chances coming home.
“I should have been four, five or six under par,” said Thornton, who fell 15 places to 59th on three under. “But there’s no point in thinking more about it. We’re only at halfway and the game is there.”
Glasson’s Colm Moriarty shot a level par 72 on the Stadium Course, falling 22 places to 99th on one over par.
He’s three shots outside the top 70 and ties who will play the last two rounds following today’s 72-hole cut, but he was looking on the bright side and aiming for a low round on the Tour Course today.
“I’m not hitting it close enough and not holing the putts when I do,” Moriarty said. “On the front nine, I was struggling off the tee and very lucky to get away with it. But level par is no disaster.
“Let’s hope the other course is scoreable tomorrow and I can shoot a few under. There’s a score to be had there if you play well. It’s just a matter of doing it.”
While Moriarty has an excellent chance of qualifying for the last two rounds, Belfast’s Damian Mooney will need one of the rounds of the week to survive the cut after a five over 77 on the Stadium Course left him tied for 128th on six over par.
Scotland’s Lloyd Saltman (64), Spain’s Alfredo Garcia Heredia (64) and England’s Steven Lewton (66) lead by a stroke on 11 under par after burning up the Tour Course yesterday.