European Tour Qualifying School Stage 1 begins

DOHERTY, McNICOLL START

WELL BUT CORMACK

WELL BACK ON DAY ONE


By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Carnoustie's Keir McNicoll (pictured) and former Scottish match-play boys' champion Paul Doherty made a good start to the long, long road that leads to the European Tour Final Qualifying School when they posted sub-par scores in the first round of the Stage 1 event at the London Club, Ash in Kent today (Tuesday).
But Inchmarlo's Paul Cormack's two-over-par 74 leaves him in joint 58th position in a field of 99. The precise number of qualifiers for Stage 2 at the end of 72 holes has not been finalised.

Doherty, based in South Wales, had a four-under-par 68 for joint eighth place overnight behind joint leaders Daniel Perrett (England) and Tim Sluiter (Netherlands) on 65.

McNicoll is sharing 13th place after a 69.

Doherty, McNicoll and Cormack are the only three Scots in the field at the Kent venue. The bulk of the Scottish aspirants will play in the Stage 1 event at Dundonald Links next week (September 7 to 10).

In the only other Stage 1 eliminator to begin today,

Jonas Pettersson of Sweden got his bid to earn a European Tour card off to an impressive start with a four under par 68 to set the early pace at Ribagolfe near Lisbon in Portugal.

It’s the start of a long road for many hopefuls with two stages to be negotiated before the six-round examination at the Final Stage. Those who make the grade will have played 280 holes to reach their goal.
Pettersson has a one-stroke lead over Neil Chaudhuri from England and Portugal’s Tiago Cruz.

SCOREBOARDLONDON CLUB, Ash, Kent
LEADING FIRST ROUND SCORES

Par 72
65 Daniel Perrett (Eng), Tim Sluiter (Ned).
66 Will Roebuck (Eng), Ryan Harrison (Eng).
67 Ricky Neil-Jones (Eng), Richard Wallis (Eng), Michael McGeady (Ire).
68 Robert Perrett (Eng), Nick Redfern (Eng), Andrew Johnston Eng), Paul Doherty (Sco), Tom Sherreard (Eng) (am).
69 Matt Ford (Eng), Paul Maddy (Eng), Keir McNicoll (Sco), Guy Woodman (Eng), David Griffiths (Eng), Rohan Blizard (Aus), David Coupland (Eng) (am).
70 Ben Welch (Eng), Andrew Martin (Aus), Jason Barnes (Eng), Ben Fox (US), James Oliphant (Eng) (am), Steven Brown (Eng) (am)
71 James Horn (Eng), Shaun Norris (SAf), James Webber (Eng), Michael Vandenberg (Eng), Francis G McGuirk (Eng), Johan Eerdmans (Ned), Kieran Staunton (Eng), Mu Hu (Chn), Josh Cunliffe (SAf), Constantin Schwerz (Ger), Rory Kirway (Eng), Stiggy Hodgson (am).
72 Doug K Lee (Eng), Nicky Harris (Eng), John Hearn (Eng), Ross Whitelock (Eng), Kevin Harper (Eng), Billy Fowles (Eng), George Parker (Eng), David Callaway (Eng), Jon White (Eng) (am).
Selected scores:
73 Paul Cormack (Sco).


RIBAGOLFE, PORTUGAL
Par 72
68 Jonas Pettersson (Swe).
69 Neil Chaudhuri (Eng), Tiago Cruz (Por).
70 Oscar Fraustro (Mex), Dok Rea Noh (Spa).
71 Nico Bollini (US), Borja Etchart (Spa), Sebastian Garcia Rodriguez (Spa) (am).
72 John M Kelly (US), Chris Cousins (Wal), Xavier Guzman (Spa), Ricardo Santos (Por), Miguel Pujalte Sastre (Spa).
73 Younes El Hassani (Mor), Iwan Griffiths (Wal), Andrea Basciu (Ita), Raul Quiros (Spa), Sam Vautier (Eng), Carlos Aguilar (Spa), Sebi Garcia (Spa), Robert Sture (Swe), Gonzalo Vicente Elena (Spa), Manuel Violas (Por) (am).