Waterford Castle’s Kevin Phelan completed a successful September from a personal point of view when he made it through Stage One of the European Tour Qualifying School Section C with nothing to spare.

Having begun the month with an impressive performance in Great Britain and Ireland’s Walker Cup defeat in New York and then made the cut on his professional debut in the European Tour’s KLM Open, he closed with six pars at Ribagolfe in Portugal to card a one over 73 and make it on the four over limit.

Describing his close call as “squeaky bum time” in reply to a Twitter follower, he wrote: “Bit tighter than I hoped for but through to stage 2 #onthemark”

Following long delays in Portugal, former Florida State player Daniel Berger was one of seven Americans to make the grade as he finished four shots clear at the top on ten under par after a final round 69.

Phelan tied for 22nd on four over as 26 players eventually made it through at the Portuguese venue but there was no luck for Mourne amateur Reeve Whitson, who finished 11 strokes outside the qualifying place on 15 over after a closing 77.

Whitson tweeted: “Extremely disappointing week! Putter is now for sale! #getmehome”

There was also an American winner at Bogogno in Italy where Las Vegas native Philip Francis, who won four consecutive Junior World Golf Championships between 1999-2002 against the likes of Rory McIlroy, carded a final round 67 to finish on 17 under par and record a two shot win at a venue where 24 others made it through to the next stage.

Of those, there were six more Americans, a Brazilian, two Chileans, an El Salvadorian and a Canadian.

Among the Europeans was Italian Domenico Geminiani, a highly regarded 17 year old who has already built up significant experience on the Challenge Tour including a top ten finish last year, and 21 year old Adrian Saddier of France, fresh from a top five finish in the recent Open Blue Green Côtes d’Armor Bretagne on the Challenge Tour.

Bogogno Results

271 P Francis (USA) 70 66 68 67,

273 A Bruschi(Ita) 64 69 69 71, J Girrbach (am) (Sui) 65 69 68 71,

276 A Saddier (Fra) 70 69 67 70,

277 L Lee (Bra) 71 73 66 67,

278 M Jensen (USA) 68 72 68 70, D Geminiani (Ita) 71 68 68 71, A Maestroni(Ita) 70 69 68 71,

279 M Richardson (Eng) 70 69 69 71, G Main (USA) 70 68 71 70, H Leon (Chi) 69 70 73 67,

280 J McLister (USA) 70 71 71 68,

281 C Arendell (USA) 71 66 74 70,

282 F Figueroa (Esa) 72 78 64 68, F Laporta (Ita) 73 68 67 74, A Bolognesi (Ita) 68 69 73 72, M Rominger(Sui) 75 64 70 73,

283 C Berardo (Fra) 73 71 70 69, H Leon (Chi) 69 69 75 70,

285 S Anderson (USA) 71 73 70 71, J Camargo (Esp) 71 72 71 71, M Hoffman (Can) 69 72 71 73, B Hopfinger (USA) 73 72 69 71, A Romano(Ita) 69 71 72 73, O Stark (Swe) 72 72 73 68,

CUT

286 C Pfau (Aut) 71 70 73 72, H Satama (Fin) 73 73 69 71, A Ahokas (Fin) 69 69 74 74, E Di Nitto (am) (Ita) 73 73 68 72, T Gornik (am) (Slo) 74 69 73 70,

287 M Ruiz (Par) 72 72 69 74, D Sandberg (Swe) 73 71 72 71,

288 E Dugas (USA) 73 71 75 69, A Grammatica(Ita) 73 68 71 76, N Holman (Aus) 71 70 73 74,

289 M Scodro (USA) 72 65 73 79, H Hwang (Kor) 73 69 74 73, M Svahlin (Swe) 73 69 75 72, N D’Incau(Sui) 68 75 77 69, F Svanberg(Sui) 73 72 73 71,

290 T Bosco-Cwiok (Pol) 75 71 73 71, M Martinson (USA) 73 71 71 75,

291 L Guanti (Ita) 72 74 73 72, L Nielsen (Den) 72 71 78 70, E Calisto (Ecu) 76 68 72 75, N Bertasio (Ita) 75 67 73 76, C De Stefani (am) (Ita) 76 74 70 71,

292 J Kunzenbacher (Ger) 75 72 69 76, G Molteni (Ita) 72 70 74 76,

293 A Campanile(Ita) 74 72 74 73, P Simard (Esp) 71 76 72 74, O Suhr (Den) 79 70 71 73, J Magnusson (Swe) 71 73 73 76, F Maccario (am) (Ita) 76 72 68 77, F Testa (am) (Ita) 75 72 73 73,

294 R Sebastian Tirado (Esp) 76 71 74 73, C Guaraldi (Ita) 74 75 71 74, E Amacher (am) (Sui) 75 73 71 75, M Cea (am) (Ita) 73 71 74 76,

297 S Thomas (Can) 72 73 75 77,

300 L Scotto (Ita) 76 72 71 81,

Ribagolfe Results

278 D Berger (USA) 67 70 72 69,

282 T Pieters(Bel) 65 67 80 70,

284 C Rodiles (Esp) 75 70 74 65, R Hjelm (Den) 70 74 69 71,

286 C Ortiz (Mex) 70 74 74 68,

287 S McNamara (USA) 73 71 73 70, J Kelly (USA) 75 71 77 64, J Gallegos (am) (Esp) 71 70 75 71,

288 D Palm (Swe) 69 71 80 68, G O’Mahony (USA) 72 74 71 71,

289 W Strickler (USA) 72 74 74 69, E Cole (USA) 71 73 73 72, N Bjorling (Swe) 71 77 72 69,

290 A Garcia-Heredia (Esp) 72 71 74 73, G Piris Mateu (Esp) 71 68 74 77,

291 S Dartnall (Aus) 73 69 73 76, V Blazquez (Esp) 68 74 77 72, G Canizares (Esp) 71 76 71 73, F Adarraga (Esp) 73 72 75 71, B Etchart(Esp) 77 72 72 70, P Williamson (USA) 74 73 71 73,

292 A McLardy (RSA) 71 72 78 71, M Jedrzeyczyk (Pol) 75 78 71 68, D Booth (Eng) 77 72 73 70, X Guzman (Esp) 69 74 75 74, K Phelan (Irl) 70 73 76 73,

CUT

293 J Rangel (USA) 76 73 71 73, J Griffin (USA) 72 73 75 73,

294 S Hansen (Nor) 76 73 73 72, W Murillo (Ven) 75 74 74 71, J Krantz (Can) 68 76 73 77, T Ferrer (am) (Esp) 75 76 71 72, J Sarasti (am) (Esp) 74 71 76 73,

295 B Virto (Esp) 71 73 78 73, N Cochran (USA) 72 74 73 76, A Christie (Eng) 74 72 79 70, R De Sousa (Sui) 71 75 75 74, A Long (USA) 70 75 81 69, K Subregis (am) (Fra) 74 76 77 68,

296 D Osorio (Esp) 75 75 72 74, D Borda (Esp) 75 74 74 73, A Hortal(Esp) 72 74 75 75, J Carlota (am) (Por) 73 75 76 72,

297 E Larrañaga (Esp) 68 74 82 73, D Suazo(Esp) 68 77 78 74, S Soderberg (Swe) 76 76 72 73, K Storgaard (Den) 73 75 76 73, R Becker (Bra) 76 74 75 72,

298 M Bey (Fra) 74 72 81 71, M Cobo (Esp) 74 77 71 76, A Gutierrez (Esp) 72 78 76 72, G Tonelli(Ita) 76 69 77 76,

299 M Ureta(Chi) 67 76 82 74, J Back (Kor) 76 76 73 74, N Dahlgren (Fin) 73 74 77 75,

300 B Lee (USA) 72 76 77 75, F De Haas (Ned) 73 76 77 74, P Kelly (Eng) 76 75 73 76, J Bragulat(Esp) 74 74 75 77, B Tilley (USA) 74 77 73 76,

301 A Parr (Can) 79 76 70 76, R Mattila (Fin) 73 74 80 74,

303 X Poncelet(Fra) 70 75 79 79, J Murphy (USA) 72 73 79 79, Reeve Whitson (am) (Nir) 70 77 79 77,

** S Seijo (Esp) 76 75 76 DQ, M Quiros (Esp) 75 74 73 RT, M Trainer (USA) 70 72 73 DQ, J Parron (Esp) 79 74 74 WD,