Swales holds slender lead for Q School finale

By ANTHONY LEAVER
Matthew Swales holds a one shot lead ahead of the final round at the 2010 PGA EuroPro Tour Q School final stage after a four under par second round took him to seven under for the tournament at Frilford Heath in Oxfordshire.
Swales (Cumberwell Park) was two strokes off the lead after a three under opening round on the blue course, and remained there after cancelling three birdies out with three bogeys on the front nine of the red course. But Swales made his move at the start of the back nine with three birdies in his first four holes, and although he dropped a shot at the 16th, Swales will be the man to beat in Friday’s final round thanks to his birdie-birdie finish.
Scott Bubb is Swales’ closest challenger at six under after he matched the leader’s liking for the back nine on the red course. That’s where Bubb (WPGC) began his round at two under par but four birdies saw his race to six under for the tournament at the turn, but he was unable to build further, with two birdies sandwiched between bogeys at the first and ninth holes.
Overnight leader Tim Dykes (Wrexham GC) was unable to build on his five under opening round, with a double bogey at the eighth hole after starting on the back nine seeing the Welshman finish level on the red course with a 73. Lee Clarke (Everbuild Building Products) joins Dykes at five under par after shooting a one under 70 on the blue course thanks to his fourth birdie of his round at 17.
Amateur James Watts recorded his second two under par round of the tournament to sit tied in fifth spot, three strokes behind at four under. Watts began on the back nine of the red course at two under par and moved up the leaderboard quickly with four birdies in the first five holes. A bogey at 17 stunted his progress but he was back on the birdie trail at the second and sixth holes – Watts ultimately had to settle for a round of 71 after a double bogey at the eighth. Graham Benson (Leighton Buzzard) shot a level par 71 on the blue course to join Watts at four under.
Paul Waugh (Hexham) was one of the biggest movers of the day, moving from three over par after a 74 on the opening day with a five under par 68 on the red course. Waugh’s round had an inauspicious start on the back nine with a bogey at the tenth, but that was the only blemish as he picked up two birdies on the back nine and four on the front to race into contention at two under.
Chris Roake also climbed into the mix with a four under 67 on the blue course, splitting four birdies between the front and back nine and failing do drop a stroke – improvement on his opening round 75 to join Waugh on two under. Wallace Booth (Comrie GC) and James Heath complete a quartet five behind the leader – Booth recording his second one under par round in Oxford, while Heath negotiated the red course at level par.
Fifteen players lie at one under par for the tournament, including Alex Belt who matched Waugh’s 68 on the red course and John Spagnuolo, who recorded a four under par 69 on the same course.
The cut was set at seven under par with 128 players tackling the blue course in the final round, with the first group teeing off at 8.15am. The winner of the final stage of Q School claims £2,400 of the £16,000 prize purse, and also takes home a car for six months thanks to Mercedes-Benz – the official car of the PGA EuroPro Tour.
To view the leaderboard and the tee-off times for Friday’s final round, visit http://www.europrotour.com/

SCOREBOARD IN BRIEF
Leader – Matthew Swales, -7 (137)
SCOTS' SCORES
Wallace Booth 142 -2 72 R, 70 B
Shaun McAllister 143 -1 73 R, 70 B
Jason McCreadie 146 +2 74 R, 72 B
Paul Cormack 148 +4 73 B, 75 R
Mark Lawrie 148 +4 77 R, 71 B
Ross Cameron 148 +4 69 B, 79 R
Scott Henry 149 +5 75 R, 74 B
Steven Hume 149 +5 79 R, 70 B
Steven Duncan 150 +6 75 R, 75 B
John Henry 150 +6 78 R, 72 B
Martin Lawrence 150 +6 76 R, 74 B
Paul O'Hara 150 +6 76 B, 74 R
Steven Clark 150 +6 77 R, 73 B
Euan McIntosh 151 +7 72 R, 79 B
John Gallagher 151 +7 81 B, 70 R
Steven Mackie 151 +7 76 R, 75 B
CUT
Graeme Lornie 152 +8 72 B, 80 R
Colin Goudie 152 +8 79 R, 73 B
Graham Rankin 152 +8 78 B, 74 R
Scott Herald 153 +9 76 B, 77 R
Ben Irving 153 +9 71 B, 82 R
Mark Rae 153 +9 73 B, 80 R
Steven Brown 154 +10 75 R, 79 B
Zack Saltman 155 +11 77 R, 78 B
Keir McNicoll 156 +12 78 R, 78 B
Kevin McAlpine 157 +13 79 B, 78 R
David Roger 159 +15 79 R, 80 B
Andrew Barton 170 +26 87 R, 83 B

COLIN FARQUHARSON IS STILL ON HOLIDAY - NORMAL UPDATING SERVICE WILL RESUME EARLY NEXT WEEK.