ONLY TOP 14 AFTER FOUR ROUNDS WILL GET ON TO OVER-50S CIRCUIT

ARNOTT AND JAMES HEAD SCOTTISH   

CHALLENGE AT EURO SENIOR TOUR 

FINAL Q SCHOOL

Robert Arnott (Bishopbriggs) and David James from Dumfries were the leading Scots at the end of the first day of the European Senior Tour's Final Qualifying School at the Pestana Golf Resort's Pinta course at Lagoa on the Algarve today.
They will start the second of four rounds in joint 13th place after matching the par of 71.
The leading 14 players after 72 holes will earned limited access to European Senior Tour events in 2014. The top six will be able to enter all the competitions on the over-50s' schedule.
Arnott played very well to come through the Q School Stage 1 last week while James, who won last year's Senior Tour School but lost his card at the end of the season, was excempt until this week.
Downfield's Kenny Hutton and Albert Mackenzie, head pro at Saunton Golf Club are joint 34th in a field of 75 players. They both returned 74s.
Terry Burgoyne (Glencruitten) is sharing 43rd place on 75 and Stephen McAllister (Renaissance Club) has a lot of catch-up work to do after shooting a seven-over 78 for joint 65th place.
Leading the field on three-under 68 Frenchman Jean Pierre Sallat and American amateur Stephen
Mondshine.
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American Mondshine sparkles 

in Portugal sun

Stephen Mondshine owns an 

event-ticketing company in his native Texas but 

the American’s dreams of gaining a golden ticket 

to a new life in senior professional golf received a 

huge boost as he carded a three under par 68 to 

share the lead after the opening day of the 

European Senior Tour’s Qualifying School Final 

Stage.

The 49 year old was joined at the top of the 

leaderboard at Pestana Golf Resort’s Pinta 

Course by Frenchman Jean Pierre Sallat, who 

also forged a very successful career before 

setting his sights on over-50s professional golf.

Sallat is a former pro footballer who played at the 

highest level in France, for Bordeaux and Le 

Havre, and his return to Q-School for the seventh 

time got off to the perfect start.

In contrast, it was Mondshine’s debut at 

Qualifying School Final Stage and his first venture 

to Europe as he aims to follow in the footsteps of 

his fellow Texan Tim Thelen.

“I played really well,” said Monshine, who turns 

50 in July. “I had just one hiccup when I double-

bogeyed the ninth hole, but I hit the ball really 

well and putted well.

“I thought I would birdie four out of the last five 

holes but I missed a birdie putt at the last. I just 

got the rhythm and started hitting it close and the 

greens were in good shape so I made the putts 

coming in.

“This is the first time I have ever been in 

Europe. Years ago I played some mini-tour golf 

in Texas and I've been practising and playing 

with good  players recently and just got better

so I just decided I would give it a shot.

“I played with Tim (Thelen) a few times in Texas 

and he’s a really good player. I’ve been a pretty 

good golfer all my life and I tend to play well in 

tournaments, so I thought I’d see how it all 

stacked up"

Sallet, meanwhile, carded six birdies on the way to 

his three under 68 over the pristine Pinta Course in 

the Algarve region as he hopes to emulate his 

success of 2004, when he finished tied fourth at 

Final Stage to earn a maiden season on the Senior 

Tour.

There were four players tied for third place on two 

under par, including former European Tour winner 

Andrew Murray, who had the advantage of having 

his son and Challenge Tour player Tom on the bag.

“I'm really pleased with how I'm playing and a bit 

disappointed to shoot 69,” said the Englishman, 

who won the Panasonic European Open in 1989. 

“I feel like I've left two or three out there to be 

 honest.

“Tom is fantastic on the bag. We didn’t get one 

read wrong or one club wrong. He’s great to have 

around. The only problem is that he sometimes 

thinks it’s a wedge in and I think it’s an eight 

iron!”

Alongside Murray were Australia’s Glenn Joyner, 

Englishman Gary Marks and Paul Mayo of Wales. 

There will be a cut after the third of four rounds 

before the top six receive full membership for the 

2014 season, while those placed seventh to 14^th 

earn conditional cards.

ALL THE FIRST-ROUND SCORES
Par 71. Yardage

68 J Sallat (Fra) , S Mondshine (am) (USA) 

69 G Marks (Eng), G Joyner (Aus), P Mayo (Wal) , A Murray (Eng)

70 M Wharton (Eng) , K Smith (Can) , S Cipa (Eng) , P Martinez (Par) , M Belsham (Eng) , B Conser (USA) 

71 R Tlhabanyane (RSA) , G Bell (Eng) , D James (Sco) , R Arnott (Sco) , M Bianco (Ita) , G Banister (Aus) , J Gould (Eng) 

72 R Sabarros (Fra) , G Norquist (USA) , M Stokes (Eng) , R Roper (Eng) , J Ryström (Swe) , J Smith (USA) , J McHenry (Irl) 

73 K Tarling (Can) , T Elliott (Aus) , J Hall (Eng) , J Murphy (Eng) , J Lindberg  (Swe) , G Ryall (Eng) , P Burke (USA) 

74 K Hutton (Sco) , J Lovell (Eng) , J Laforce (Can) , T Dodds (Nam) , A Mackenzie (Sco) , D Morito (Esp) , T Lawrence (Eng) , A Fernandez (Chi) , W Grant (Eng) 

75 J Saxton (USA) , E Kocs (USA) , S Bennett (Eng) , D Wettlaufer (Can) , T Burgoyne (Sco) , B Lincoln (RSA) , R Masters (Eng) 

76 C Milne (USA) , G Rusnak (USA) , Y Nilsson (Swe) , R Thompson (USA) , P Carman (Eng) , J Buendia (Esp) , G Ralph (Eng) , J Harrison (Eng) , P Gresswell (Eng) , K Tenmark (Swe) , S McNally (Eng) , A George (Eng) , J O'Brien (am) (Irl) 

77 T Giles (Eng) , J Nougues (Arg) 

78 D Ray (Eng) , S McAllister (Sco) , B James (USA) 

79 B White (Eng) , M Deboub (Alg) 

80 C Grenier (Aut) 

82 A Israelsson (Swe) , L Warder (am) (Aus) ,

85 G Litschka (Aut) 

87 M Buchter (Sui)

 Field of 74 players

 

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