RONNIE McDONALD TRIES

AGAIN TO BREAK

INTO CLOSED SHOP

OF SENIORS' TOUR

By COLIN FARQUHARSON

Ronnie McDonald still has a burning ambition to make it on to the European Seniors Tour.
This is a man who has given up the comfort zone of being Kemnay Golf Club professional to make, I think I am correct in saying, his third attempt to get a player's card at the six-round Qualifying School process held on the Algarve in mid-November.
The entry fee at qualifying schools the world over is a rip-off. I have said it before and I say it again.
Ronnie has to pay £750 every year just to tee it up at the Seniors Q School. And you can more than double that with what it is costing him in flights from Aberdeen to Portugal plus accommodation and food.
And to get on to the European Seniors Tour strikes me as being even more difficult than the European Tour because only a handful of new players' cards are up for grabs. Contrast that with the top 20 finishers on the European Challenge Tour who have gained automatic promotion to the European Tour next year without even having to go to a Q School.

"I know it's going to be tough. It always is but I just can't let go. Pinheiros Altos, which is where I play the first two rounds in the Stage 1 eliminator, can be a very, very difficult course to score on. I rate it a good deal more difficult that the Pinta course along at the other end of the Algarve at Carvoero. If you're short game is on tune, you can get scores there. That's where the 72-hole Final Qualifying Seniors School is held," said Ronnie.

McDonald is statistically correct in his summing up of the Seniors Q School courses.

There are two courses used for Stage 1 on November 15 & 16 - Pinherfios Altos which is 6,743yd long with a par of 72 and Quinta de Cima which is 6,729yd and also a Par 72.

You would think the course for the Final Q School from November 19 to 22 would be longer and tougher. In fact, the reverse is true. The Pinta course at Carvoeiro is shorter than the other two at 6,553yd and has a par of only 71. A curious logic to apply in an eliminating contest?
"Yes, you could say the European Seniors Tour is a wee bit of a closed shop. There's not much new blood allowed to get on it every year."
If Ronnie had been a European Tour player and won enough money over the years, then it would have been much, much easier for him to gain playing rights on the over-50s tour.

"The difficult bit is actually getting on to the Seniors Tour. Once you are there, there are no cuts and you can and should be able to make money every tournament," said Ronnie who has a playing attachment with Inchmarlo Golf Centre.

Say a little golfing prayer on November 15 for Ronnie McDonald.