MARTIN BEST OF SCOTS ON OPENING DAY
OF EUROPEAN SENIORS TOUR Q SCHOOL

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Dundee's Steve Martin was the best placed of the four Scots in the field at the end of the first round of the European Seniors Tour Qualifying School over the Pinta course at Pestana Golf Resort on Portugal's Algarve today.
Martin had a two -over-par 73 to be lying in joint 19th position with three rounds to go. Only the leading 14 competitors at the end of 72 holes will earn playing rights on next year's over-50s' pro tour.
Martin birdied the second, 15th and 17th but he had a double bogey 6 at the 11th and dropped other shots at the short third, short ninth and long 16th in halvess of 35 (one 0over par) and 38 (one over par).
Anglo-Scot Bill McColl had a 74 for a share of 36th place. McColl, starting at the 10th, birdied the 10th and had an eagle 3 at the 512yd 12th but he also shed shots at the 11th, 13th and 17th to cover his first nine holes in level par 37.
McColl picked up a birdie at the second but slipped badly over the last six holes with a double bogey at the seventh and bogeys at the fourth and ninth in threee-over 37 for his second half.
McColl, like Duncan Williamson, came through last week's Stage 1 eliminator, also on the Algarve.
Williamson, playing out of Kirkhill Golf Club, Cambuslang, had a 76 to be trailing in joint 52nd place. The Cambuslang man took a long while to warm up. He was four over par at the turn,. having bogeyed the first, third, fourth and fifth. Out in four-over 38, Williamson did get his first birdies on the board at the 10th and 13th but he continued to scatter shots to par, bogeying the 11th, 15th and 16th for one-over 38 home.
Mike Miller, with a 77, was back in joint 61st place in a field of 78 players. Mike started at the 10th and had a double bogey 5 at the short 13th and a double bogey 7 at the long 16th. He also bogeyed the 11th. A birdie 4 at the long 12th did little improve his position - he covered his first nine in four-over-par 41. Things did not get better on his second nine. Miller bogeyed the first and sixth for two-over-par 36.

SCOTT CROCKETT, Chief Press Officer, European Tour, writes:
Former European Tour winner Jeff Hall stormed into contention in the first round of the European Seniors Tour Qualifying School in Portugal – and immediately paid tribute to the help given to him by renowned golfing coach Pete Cowen.
Hall – who pipped Bernard Gallacher and Sandy Lyle for the 1983 Jersey Open title – opened with a flawless three under par 68 on the Pinta Course at the Pestana Golf Resort on the Algarve to share second place with John Mashego of South Africa, the duo one shot adrift of England’s Bob Larratt.
The 50 year old’s only departures from par came with birdies at the third, where he holed from 35 feet, and on two par-5s on the back nine – the 10th and 12th – and he credited the solidity of his play to the man who has helped many of the European Tour’s top stars including Thomas Björn, Colin Montgomerie, Henrik Stenson and Lee Westwood.
“I have known Pete Cowen for over 30 years but I have never asked him for any help or advice before,” said Hall. “Maybe that was foolish of me and so if this is a chance to thank him for helping me now then I’m going to take it because I’m delighted with my start here.
“I was at the Volvo Masters a few weeks back when I met up with Pete and he took a look at a few things in my game and gave me a few things to work on. I went away and tried them and worked hard on them and hopefully it is paying off.
“Any Qualifying School is hard and the thing you have to have is patience and I think that was the key for me today. I had a lot of chances apart from the ones I took and I think I left at least three or four putts right in the jaws of the hole, so it could have been a lot better.
“But you have to try and get the pace of the greens right here and downwind and down grain that is not always easy. It is easy, however, to have a go and rush it four or five feet past and then miss the one coming back to make bogey so, as I said, the watchword for the week is patience."
Leader Larratt had only one dropped shot in his excellent opening four under par 67, at the short 15th where his tee shot found a greenside bunker, but aside from that the 54 year old was in fine form, notching five birdies including one from 40 feet at his final hole of the day, the 167 yard ninth.
“I hit a seven iron at the last and I couldn’t believe it went so far over the pin,” he said. “It was playing a bit downwind and perhaps there was a little bit of adrenalin in there too but I didn’t think it would go 40 feet past. However, it was great to knock the putt in and end my day like that.
“The key for me today was keeping out of trouble. Mike Inglis, one of my playing partners, said to me at the end that it is one of the most stress-free rounds of golf he had ever witnessed. To be honest it sometimes didn’t feel that way but hopefully I can keep going like this and secure my card at the end of the week – that is the reason I’m here.”
Sharing second place with Hall, South African John Mashego got his quest for a card off to a blistering start with a birdie at his opening hole, the 10th, followed by an eagle 3 at the 12th to be three under par for the tournament after three holes. Two further birdies and two bogeys ensured that was where the 56 year old from Johannesburg ended.
At the end of the four round examination on Thursday, the top 14 players will secure their cards for the 2008 European Seniors Tour season.
Within that top 14 at the end of the first day’s play were the two players who topped last week's Stage 1 qualifying tournaments at Quinta de Cima and Pinheiros Altos respectively – American Chuck Milne, who opened with a level par 71, and Angel Franco of Paraguay, brother of four time US PGA Tour winner Carlos Franco, who opened with a one under par 70.
FIRST ROUND SCOREBOARD
Pinta course, Pestana Resort.
Par 71, 6,553yd.
67 B Larratt (Eng).
68 J Hall (Eng), J Mashego (RSA).
70 G Banister (Eng), A Franco (Par), D Hammett (US)
71 I Crowther (am) (Eng), J Hoskinson (Eng), C Milne (US), B Smit (RSA), M Thomas (US),
72 P-A Brostedt (Swe), J Heggarty (NIr), M Johnson (US), I Mosey (Eng), T Price (Wal), T Rastall (Eng), D Stirling (Eng),
73 A Barrera (Arg), A Bownes (Eng), P Dahlberg (Swe), T Dill (US), M Fernando (US), J L Gallardo (Esp), M Galway (Eng) (am), R Green (Eng), F Guedra (Alg), B Hardwick (Can), M Kierstenson (Eng), J Lapsley (NZ), R Mann (Eng), S Martin (Sco), R Masters (Eng), A Ortiz (Arg), A Saavedra (Arg), H Woodrome (USA)
74 J Anglada (Esp), M Briggs (Eng) (am), B Evans (Eng), T Gideon (Ger), B McColl (Sco), P O’Boyle (Ire), J-P Sallat (Fra), G Sharp (US), R Stelten (US)
75 P Andersson (Swe), J Benda (US), M Edmunds (Wal), P Henrik (Can), A Johnsson (Swe), D Narveson (US), B Storman (US),
76 T Carter (Eng) (am), T Claassens (RSA), J Davila (Esp), G Green (USA), G Gunn (Can), A McLure (am) (Eng), D Morris (Ire) (am), S Stull (USA), D Williamson (Sco).
77 M Gallagher (Eng), C Hurst (Ire) (am), G Krause (Eng), M Miller (Sco).
78 E Enrique (Ita), TR Jones (USA), L Lozano (Esp), G Wintz (US), D Young (Eng).
79 T Brown (US), S Graham (Eng), O Moore (Aus), B Todd (NIr).
80 N Clarke (RSA), M Gammell (US).
81 F Abreu (Esp), M Inglis (Eng).