Three Galway Golfers ares till in the hunt for DP World Tour cards (European Tour) following the last two events in the first stage of Q-School qualifying at the weekend. Galway's Ronan Mullarney and Liam Nolan, and Athenry Golf Club's David Kitt all made it through separate tournaments in France and Denmark to take their place in the second stage qualifiers in Spain from October 31st to November 3rd.
In Golf de Léry Poses, in the North West of France, Ronan Mullarney just squeezed into the final qualifying spot in joint 21st place on 5 under par after rounds of 71, 70, 70 and 72. Just ahead of him in qualifying was Manuel Ballesteros Jr, nephew of Seve.
In Horsens Golfklub, Jutland, Denmark, the Q-School tournament was even more dramatic for the two Galway lads competing in the 3-round event. Both Liam Nolan and David Kitt qualified right on the cut-off mark of 2 under par, but in very different circumstances. Kitt shot a superb final round of 66 that included four birdies in his last four holes, and that proved just enough to make it through after opening rounds of 70 and 72.
Meanwhile Nolan had to finish eagle-birdie to shoot a round of 76 and avoid disaster. He had led the tournament after rounds of 67 and 65, but a triple bogey on the par three 11th hole and two further bogeys saw him slip back to 9 over for his round, until the late flourish saved the day and highlighted his amazing resilience.
Two other Irish golfers made it through to the second stage of Q-School from the tournament in Denmark, Kilkenny's Mark Power who qualified in 8th place on 7 under and Dublin's Max Kenns=dy, who joined Nolan and Kitt in the group on 2 under.
