The European Tour’s annual Qualifying School is invariably a pressure cooker of conflicting emotions, and this year is no exception.
First the relief… Spain’s Adri Arnaus, who only turned professional this week, continued his excellent 2017 form, highlighted by victory on the Alps Tour’s order of merit. The 23-year-old reached five-under-par to comfortably make the cut, one of four Spaniards to do so on home soil at Lumine Golf Club, including Gonzalo Fernandez-Castaño – who has fellow seven-time European Tour winner Álvaro Quirós caddying for him this week.
England’s Simon Khan, a two-time European Tour winner, made the cut on the two-under mark, with 74 players now contesting the final 36 holes on the Lakes Course before the top 25 and ties secure Race to Dubai status for the 2018 European Tour.
Ahead of Fernández (25th), Arnaus (45th) and Khan (67th), Sam Horsfield led the way on 15-under, one shot ahead of fellow Englishman Charlie Ford, whose seven-under 64 was the round of the fourth day in Tarragona.
So to the anguish… As tends to be a sad custom, several former Tour champions failed to make the cut, which means they don’t even have the consolation of Challenge Tour status next year – although in many cases they will be able to secure invitations to selected events as former winners or based on their career winnings and rankings. They include Australian Richard Green, Finland’s Roope Kakko, 2008 Ryder Cup player Oliver Wilson from England, Swede Michael Jonzon and Niclas Fasth, another top Swede whose six Tour titles include the 2006 Andalucía Open de España played at San Roque on the Costa del Sol.
Of the other Spaniards in the field, Pep Angles was 35th and Alejandro Cañizares 67th (both still in with a chance of winning their main tour cards), but Eduardo de la Riva and Alfredo García-Heredia missed the cut by two shots, and Carlos del Moral withdraw at the end of the third day following rounds of 78-76-70.
What They Said
Adri Arnaus
“It has been great season for me. I was really happy with my performances throughout the year on the Alps Tour, where I won the order of merit in the last event, but I thought it was a good time to turn pro this week and that here was the best place to do it. I have been playing really good this week. I have made a couple of mistakes each day, but hopefully I can cut those errors out over the last two days. I feel that I have a really good chance over the last two days and to get a European Tour card would be very special.”
Simon Khan
“I gave it everything today. It was one of the toughest days I’ve known and I’ve played really well all week, holed a couple of putts today, and to shoot three under today, I’ve done all I can and I’m quite proud of myself. There are still 36 holes, a long way to go, and I’m going back a long way now but I remember San Roque in 2001 when I shot a 65 in the fifth round, so it can be done and I’ll try to draw on that – I know what I can do, it’s just about getting the putter a bit warmer.
“It’s been a really odd year. It’s been my first time without a full European Tour card for 15 or 16 seasons and you see things from the other side, it’s tough. Getting calls late, not really knowing your schedule, not knowing what’s going on really. I haven’t had any momentum or felt like I’ve got anything going. Normally my ball striking is the strongest part of my game and even that hasn’t been there this year, but this week I came out really early and I just started getting it going – I’ve been hitting it probably the best I’ve hit it in a few years actually. It would be great to get a card now and kick on with this next year because I’m feeling good again.”
Sam Horsfield
“I played pretty solid last week at second stage and the courses this week have just really suited me. I felt really confident coming in and I feel like my game is in a really good place right now so I just want to keep it going over the next two days. I haven’t really looked at a leaderboard all week. I left a few out there today – I think I hit 17 greens in regulation so I had a lot of opportunities. I just need to keep doing this over the next two days, make some putts and I will hopefully be alright.”
