Peter Lawrie kept his pencil in his pocket yet drew line under his season when he refused to sign his card and disqualified himself from the Final Stage of the European Tour Qualifying School at PGA Catalunya Resort.

At 10 over for the tournament through 11 holes of the third round, his race was run long before he mistakenly took what he described as an incorrect drop from a tree that wasn’t physically attached to the stake next to it on the par-five 12th.

He might have recorded an 86 if he had signed the card, but the 41-year old Dubliner, who finished 124th in the Race to Dubai this year on the back of 17 invitations, was already thinking ahead to 2016 and his chances of regaining his full playing rights from a lesser category.

“I won’t give up,” said Lawrie, who expects to get around 22 starts next season. “I have never been a giver-upper, so I will carry on and I will play next year though apart from the Irish Open, I won’t be seeking invites. I have had my fair share and it’s time for somebody else to get them.”

The will to go on is fading in Lawrie, who admits that it’s “the potential golden egg” or the big pay day that fuels his desire.

“It’s like anything,” Lawrie said. “Do you enjoy a job that is not giving you something back? The big problem is the potential golden egg. But sometimes you have to look at the expense account and weigh one up against the other.

“So I’ll play whatever I can get into next year. That’s the plan. From there, we will wait and see.”

Damien McGrane feels the same way and at 44, he knows he will struggle to compete with young guns like Swedish amateur Marcus Kinhult or Austrian Lukas Nemecz, who shot rounds of 65 and 66 respectively on the Tour Course yesterday to lead the field by a stroke on 14 under par.

McGrane said he had to “grind” hard to shoot a four under 66 on the shorter course and at seven under par, he’s still a shot outside the top 25 and ties who will be awarded tour cards on Thursday night. 

“It is a reasonable position,” the Kells grinder said. “I’m grinding but that’s just the way it has to be this week. It’s in the nature of it.”

Mount Juliet’s Kevin Phelan was pleased to finally convert his chances, coming home in five under 30 for a 66 on the Tour Course that catapulted him from 76th to tied 48th on four under.

Paul Dunne’s mediocre, level par 70 there dropped him from 36th to tied 55th on three under, five strokes outside the magic number, but he’s hoping that he can move up considerably over the last three days on the tougher Stadium Course.

“It’s disappointing but I didn’t do anything well,” Dunne said. “I drove it badly and hit a lot of bad irons shots. But there are three more days, hopefully I can do a bit better on the tougher course.”

At three under, Dunne is just one strokes inside the top 70 and ties who make the four round cut on Tuesday night.

But while Simon Thornton is one outside the mark on one under after a three over 73 on the Tour Course, Headfort’s Brian Casey and Rosapenna’s Ruaidhri McGee are preparing to pack their bags at six over and 10 over respectively.

“It was definitely better than yesterday,” joked McGee, who recovered from his nightmarish 87 on the Stadium Course on Sunday with a 73 as Casey shot a three over 75. 

“One over not playing well, I did okay to scrape it round. Hopefully I wont’ have to go back to that course again — unless it is for the Spanish Open or the Ryder Cup.”

The European Tour adds:

Nemecz retained the lead but was joined at the top of the leaderboard on 14 under par by teenager Marcus Kinhult at the halfway point of this six round marathon.

With the top half of the field playing the less challenging Tour Course at PGA Catalunya Resort – a European Tour Destination – the leading players took advantage of perfect scoring conditions in the third round, with 84 players now at par or better for the week.

Austrian Nemecz made an early move, four birdies in his first seven holes stretching his lead before a double-bogey on the 18th hole, his ninth, brought him back in range of the chasing pack.
The 26 year old found two more birdies coming home to shoot a four under par round of 66 but he admitted he is surprised by his lofty position in Girona.

“I’m very happy, I couldn’t have expected that,” he said. “I didn’t play very well this season but I know that I’m playing very well now so it makes it fun. I’m enjoying playing, and it’s really good to be there right now.

“I always used to have a good long game and was struggling with that a bit this year, so I had to do some technical things this summer which is not great to have to do in the middle of the season. It looks like it’s starting to pay off now though.

“Tomorrow will definitely be more difficult but I don’t think that the Tour Course is that easy, you still have to make a lot of good shots and I like the course. I hit two bad shots today and went out of bounds but the rest was really good.

“It’s nice to be leading now but there are still three more rounds and there is so far to go that I don’t really even think about it. You have to think about playing under par and then see what happens after 108 holes.

“Our coach has rented a house so there are eight of us there and it’s great fun, doing some cooking and talking, so it’s good to get off the golf course and have fun.I It’s very important to be able to do that to save energy over all these days – we’ve played three rounds but there are still three more to go so it will definitely be challenging.”

His playing partner Kinhult – still an amateur – was also pleased with his bogey-free third round of 65 that has put him in a strong position with 54 holes still to play.

“It was good today,” said the 19 year old Swede. “I struck it pretty good today tee to green and didn’t miss many greens so it was really solid. I left a few out there on the greens, missed a few putts, but I’m happy with a good score.

“It would mean a lot to get a European Tour card, obviously, but we’re only halfway through so it’s a long way to go, but it’s a good start and it’s going to be three nice rounds on the Stadium Course, hopefully, and I’m looking forward to it.

“I try not to change my mindset. I just need to stick to the gameplan, hit fairways and greens and hopefully make a few putts.”

One shot behind the leading duo are Spaniard Adrian Otaegui, who had the low round of the day with an eight under par 62, and England’s Chris Hanson, with Hanson’s compatriot Gary King one shot further back alongside Australian Nick Cullen.

Frenchman Clément Sordet briefly raised hopes of a round of 59 or better when he went out in just 28 strokes but faltered slightly coming in to shoot a six under par 64 and sit alongside American Jason Knutzon on 11 under par.

Of the players on the Stadium Course, traditionally seen as slightly tougher than the Tour Course, it was Scotland’s Peter Whiteford who caught the eye, a five under par round of 67 taking him to three under par overall.

Tomorrow the field swaps courses for the fourth round, after which a cut will see the top 70 and ties make it through to battle it out for two more rounds on the Stadium Course.

At the end of the six rounds the top 25 players and ties will earn places on The European Tour for next season.

European Tour Qualifying School Final Stage, PGA Catalunya Resort (Tour Course, Par 70; Stadium Course, Par 72), Girona

After 54 holes

198 L Nemecz (Aut) 67 65 66; M Kinhult (am) (Swe) 66 67 65;

199 A Otaegui (Esp) 74 63 62; C Hanson (Eng) 70 63 66;

200 G King (Eng) 64 72 64; N Cullen (Aus) 61 73 66;

201 C Sordet (Fra) 71 66 64; J Knutzon (USA) 67 68 66;

202 D Papadatos (Aus) 67 70 65; R McGowan (Eng) 69 69 64; U Van Den Berg (RSA) 72 64 66; D Gavins (Eng) 71 65 66; M Palmer (RSA) 63 71 68;

203 F Fritsch (Ger) 68 69 66; J Hugo (RSA) 65 71 67; K Ferrie (Eng) 70 69 64; D Im (USA) 70 68 65; C Berardo (Fra) 76 64 63; L Jensen (Den) 70 66 67; M Jonzon (Swe) 68 70 65; S Fernandez (am) (Esp) 64 72 67;

204 H Joannes (Bel) 66 70 68; F Laporta (Ita) 69 68 67; D Dixon (Eng) 72 68 64; L Canter (Eng) 67 69 68;

205 J Guerrier (Fra) 69 70 66; N Ravano (Ita) 75 65 65; R Finch (Eng) 69 66 70; E Goya (Arg) 73 63 69; P Shields (Sco) 67 70 68; J Robinson (Eng) 72 69 64; M Lafeber (Ned) 74 66 65; Damien McGrane (Irl) 71 68 66; N Bertasio (Ita) 71 68 66;

206 M Pavon (Fra) 67 68 71; M Foster (Eng) 71 68 67; D Huizing (Ned) 68 72 66; M Southgate (Eng) 72 66 68;

207 J Sarasti (Esp) 69 68 70; J Sjöholm (Swe) 72 67 68; D Law (Sco) 67 72 68; K Samooja (Fin) 66 74 67; F Bergamaschi (Ita) 67 65 75; J Scrivener (Aus) 65 72 70; W Besseling (Ned) 68 71 68; C Costilla (Arg) 68 71 68; D Lloyd (RSA) 64 74 69;

208 M Brown (Nzl) 69 72 67; A Hartø (Den) 72 68 68; P Howard (Eng) 73 67 68; M Delpodio (Ita) 72 67 69; S Hansen (Den) 67 74 67; J Dantorp (Swe) 66 71 71; Kevin Phelan (Irl) 70 72 66;

209 R Johnson (Swe) 71 70 68; R McEvoy (Eng) 66 74 69; A Karlsson (Swe) 67 73 69; S Manley (Wal) 66 74 69; Paul Dunne (Irl) 71 68 70; G Green (Mas) 69 70 70; R Evans (Eng) 67 72 70;

210 S Arnold (Aus) 70 71 69; S Henry (Sco) 71 69 70; D Burmester (RSA) 74 67 69; T Murray (Eng) 69 72 69; J Walters (RSA) 68 73 69; R Kellett (Sco) 75 65 70;

211 P Whiteford (Sco) 74 70 67; D Gaunt (Aus) 68 74 69; H Porteous (RSA) 65 72 74; Simon Thornton (Irl) 71 67 73;

212 M Crespi (Ita) 74 67 71; F Mruzek (Cze) 68 71 73; R Santos (Por) 75 63 74; F Andersson Hed (Swe) 73 68 71; P Oriol (Esp) 70 73 69; O Henningsson (Swe) 73 67 72;

213 D Foos (Ger) 74 70 69; T Gornik (Slo) 68 72 73; J Loughrey (Eng) 72 72 69; J Lara (Esp) 71 71 71; C Koerbler (Aut) 73 69 71; O Stark (Swe) 77 65 71;

214 E Molinari (Ita) 66 77 71; J Hahn (USA) 71 74 69; J Sandelin (Swe) 71 71 72; L Gagli (Ita) 71 71 72; R Coles (Eng) 72 68 74;

215 C Ford (Eng) 71 71 73; J White (Eng) 68 74 73; C Del Moral (Esp) 74 69 72; S Brown (Eng) 73 71 71; D Bransdon (Aus) 72 71 72;

216 P Angles (Esp) 63 80 73; J Lima (Por) 74 70 72; J Senior (Eng) 74 68 74; R Fox (Nzl) 68 77 71; A Tadini (Ita) 73 71 72; P Widegren (Swe) 71 73 72; P Hedblom (Swe) 69 74 73; S Soderberg (Swe) 74 69 73; A Chesters (Eng) 73 69 74; M Nixon (Eng) 72 76 68; R Roussel (am) (Fra) 70 72 74;

217 B Pettersson (Swe) 73 72 72; R Saxton (Ned) 74 72 71; D Kataoka (Jpn) 76 68 73; P Mejow (Ger) 74 69 74; D Van Tonder (RSA) 72 70 75; G Axell (Swe) 74 68 75; J Doherty (Sco) 69 73 75;

218 B Neil (Sco) 73 69 76; S Walker (Eng) 68 76 74; J Mullen (Eng) 74 69 75;

219 J Smith (Eng) 76 71 72; B Hafthorsson (Isl) 74 72 73; V Riu (Fra) 74 71 74; M Welch (USA) 75 73 71; B Ritthammer (Ger) 70 77 72; M Wallace (Eng) 71 76 72; R Gonzalez (Arg) 79 68 72; J Rutherford (Eng) 71 71 77;

220 Brian Casey (Irl) 76 69 75; A Wejshag (Swe) 71 75 74; J Huldahl (Den) 66 80 74; A Saddier (Fra) 73 71 76; C Pigem (Esp) 70 75 75; S Jeppesen (Swe) 78 71 71; J Wrisdale (Eng) 74 72 74; N Holman (Aus) 70 72 78; T Sinnott (Aus) 82 68 70; 

221 M Orrin (Eng) 76 66 79; J Cafourek (Cze) 69 77 75; C Blomstrand (Swe) 75 73 73; J Higginbottom (Aus) 75 74 72; 

222 M Laskey (Wal) 72 74 76; N Lemke (Swe) 76 70 76; M Lundberg (Swe) 75 68 79; M Søgaard (Den) 70 78 74; D Woltman (USA) 76 72 74;

223 D Vancsik (Arg) 70 77 76; E Kofstad (Nor) 67 78 78; 

224 P Martin Benavides (Esp) 74 76 74; J Edfors (Swe) 76 69 79; K Eriksson (Swe) 68 83 73; Ruaidhri McGee (Irl) 64 87 73; M Wiegele (Aut) 69 75 80;

225 P Tarver-Jones (Eng) 74 75 76; J Lucquin (Fra) 72 77 76; G Murray (Sco) 76 70 79; N Dougherty (Eng) 76 74 75;

226 C Feldborg Nielsen (Swe) 72 78 76;

227 G Piris Mateu (Esp) 70 77 80; A Murdaca (Aus) 72 74 81;

232 E Cuartero Blanco (Esp) 74 80 78; 

DQ Peter Lawrie (Irl) 76 69 DQ.