EUROPEAN FINAL TOUR Q SCHOOL

                                      Peter Whiteford, a lot of ground to make up

WHITEFORD, BOOTH UP AGAINST IT 

AFTER BAD START IN SPAIN

You cannot win one of the 25 places available on the 2015 European Tour on the first day of the six-round golfing marathon they call the European Tour Final Qualifying School but you  can rule yourself out of the running with a disastrous score.
That's what happened today at PGA Catalunya Golf Resort, north of Barcelona, to Peter Whiteford and Wallace Booth.
Whiteford shot a 77 on the par-72 Stadium Course while Booth returned an 80 over the same course.
Whiteford is T133 and Booth T149 in the field of 156 hopefuls.
All is not lost, of course, because Whiteford and Booth have three more rounds to beat the first cut which will reduce the challengers to the leading 70 and ties at the end of the fourth day. But they have made life very difficult for themselves just when they wanted to be on song.  
How unfortunate, particularly for Comrie man Booth whose pro career has been hampered for some time by a shoulder injury.
To have made it through to the Final Q School, was a very good effort but the story does not look as though it will have a happy ending. Let's hope Carly Booth's big brother can turn it around big-style!
The other three Scots in the highly competitive field - Duncan Stewart, Ross Kellet and Scott Henry - did OK but they have got to maintain a high standard of play over 108
Grantown on Spey's Stewart shot a three-under-par 67, Motherwell's Kellett a 70 and Henry also a 70. The trio were playing the par-70 Tour course.
Stewart is T15, Kellett and Henry jointly T59 going into Day 2.

FIRST-ROUND LEADERBOARD

64 Christian Gloet (Den)
65 Anirban Lahiri (Ind)
66 Kenneth Ferrie (Eng), Andrew Dodt (Aust), Jaakko Makitalo (Fin), Antti Ahokas (Fin), Stuart Manley (Wal), Daniel Im (USA), Joakim Lagergrom (Swe), Adrien Saadier (Fra), Johan Edfors (Swe), Jason Knutzon (USA), Sam Walker (Eng), Nico Geyger (Chile).

67 Duncan Stewart (Sco), Jeppe Huldahl (Den), John Hahn (USA), Mads Soegaard (Den), Trevor Fisher jun (Eng), Paul Maddy (Eng), Rikard Karlberg (Swe), Ben Parker (Eng), Seuk-hyun Baek (SKor), Renato Paratore (Ita), Sebastian Soderberg (Swe), Shun Yat Hak (HKg), Sebastien Gros (Fra)(T15)
68 Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg), John Parry (Eng), Carlos del Moral (Spa), Matteo Delpodio (Ita), Ross McGowan (Eng), David Dixon (Eng), Philip Archer (Eng), Jean-Baptire Gonnet (Fra), Simon Thornton (Eng), Nick Dougherty (Eng).

OTHER SCOTS SCORES
70 Ross Kellett, Scott Henry (T59).
77 Peter Whiteford (T133)
80 Wallace Booth (T149)