ARNOTT, JAMES STILL HAVE CHANCE
OF GAINING SENIOR PASS MARKS
Only one round to go in the European Senior Tour Final Qualifying School and only two Scots, Robert Arnott (Bishopbriggs) and David James from Dumfries have a serious chance of making the top 14 who will gain playing rights on the over-50s circuit in the coming season.
Ideally, they are aiming for a top-six finish which would get them into all the tournaments but they would probably settle for the a place among the leading 14 who will gain limited access to the senior schedule.
Arnott is on the right side of the border in joint 13th place on two-over 215 with scores of 71, 70 and 74. He was going along nicely until he had a double bogey 7 at the long 16th and a bogey at the 17th - three shots he could ill-afford to squander at this stage.
James, who won the Senior Q School 12 months ago but failed to keep his card at the end of the season is joint 16th on 216 with scores of 71, 73 and 73.
James started badly - and finished badly. He bogeyed the first and third the, having rallied to birdied the fifth, sixth and 14th, he let it slip again with bogeys at the16th and 17th.
The hopes of Albert Mackenzie (Saunton), Kenny Hutton (Downfield), Stephen McAllister (Renaissance Club) and Terry Burgoyne (Glencruitten) look to be over for another year.
Mackenzie is joint 38th on 220 after his best round yet, a 71.
Hutton is joint 43rd on 222 after starting the third round with a double bogey 6 and dropped further hsots at the fourth, sixth and eighth on his way to a five-over-par 76.
McAllister is sharing 48th place on 223 after a 74 while Burgoyne is joint 60th in a field of 71 players after a 73 for 227.
SCROLL DOWN FOR ALL THE SCORES
EUROPEAN TOUR COMMUNICATIONS REPORT
Super Cipa faces Q-School battle with mint Murray over final round
Friendships
will be put aside in the final day of the
European Senior Tour’s
Qualifying School Final
Stage as leader Steve Cipa battles it out with
English compatriot Andrew Murray in the final
group, both spurred on by ambitious young up and
coming golf
professionals on their respective bags.
Cipa
produced a stunning performance at Pestana
Golf Resorts’s Pinta Course
in the Algarve region
of Portugal as he carded a bogey-free five under
par 66, the best round of the week, to move
to the
top of the leaderboard on eight under par.
The
53 year old was one shot clear of second
round leader and playing
partner Murray after a
third day in which they traded blows at the top
of
the leaderboard while trading stories and jokes
on
the pristine fairways of the picturesque resort.
The
caddies for both players have plenty common
as they are both in the
early stages of their own
burgeoning pro careers.
Cipa’s caddie, Katy McNicoll from Carnoustie,
plays on the Ladies European Tour’s
developmental
Access Series and the Paul
Lawrie Scottish Ladies Tour, while Murray’s
son Tom is chasing his dream on the
Challenge
Tour.
Cipa
admitted that the friendly rivalry between the
players on the course
has been a welcome
distraction from the pressure, while the presence of
the young caddies has also had a positive effect
on
the standard of golf.
“I
putted nicely today and played really solid all
three rounds,” said the
Londoner. “My only
objective this week was to be patient, keep it
simple and smile.
“I
have kept it in play off the tee, hit nice iron
shots to the green and I
have only had one bogey
in three rounds so it’s all going nicely.
“I
have to thank my caddie Katy - she’s been
fantastic and helped me with
everything - and also
the Senior Tour physio Orla Buckley. I've had
some problems with my back and she’s worked on
it
every day and it has really helped. We’re very
fortunate to have her at
our events.
“I've
known Andrew all my career and he’s a
great player. We both like
football so we had
some good chats, he’s a good friend of mine and
we
both wanted each other to do well.
“His
son is a great lad too so between him and
Katy, we both have great
caddies. When you have
a younger person, their outlook can be a little
less
cynical! But I really enjoyed it and hopefully
it will
be the same for tomorrow, I just need to keep it
simple and
enjoy it.”
Murray,
who signed for a three under par round of
68 to move to seven under in
outright second
place, also thoroughly enjoyed the day and is
looking
forward to chasing down Cipa’s lead
tomorrow.
“I
played nicely again today but just hit a couple of
poor shots out
there,” said the former European
Tour winner, who fired four birdies in
the space of
five holes on the back nine.
“Steve
and I are big mates and we egged each
other on a bit. He’s one of the
true gents on tour
and I’ve known him for 35 years so we had a bit of
football banter, his West Ham are struggling
and
so are my Man United.
“It’s
a good lesson for the two caddies too. Tom
was fantastic again and very
positive. I’d like
to give Steve a run for it tomorrow. We’ll see
what happens and if we both keep playing like
that it will be there for one of us.”
American
Barry Conser and Englishman Gary
Marks were four shots off second place
on three
under par while Mark Roper of England was in
fifth place on
his own on one under.
There
were five players tied in sixth spot and it
will no doubt be an
almighty battle for the six
unconditional cards on offer. Those who
finish in seventh to 14th position will receive
conditional
cards for the 2014 Senior Tour season.
THIRD ROUND TOTALS
Par 213 (3x71)
205 S Cipa (Eng) 70 69 66,
206 A Murray (Eng) 69 69 68,
210 G Marks (Eng) 69 72 69, B Conser (USA) 70 69 71,
212 R Roper (Eng) 72 70 70,
213 M Belsham (Eng) 70 71 72, E Kocs (USA) 75 70 68, G Ryall (Eng) 73 70 70, M Bianco (Ita) 71 73 69, G Rusnak (USA) 76 69 68,
214 J Smith (USA) 72 69 73, J Gould (Eng) 71 69 74,
215 R Arnott (Sco) 71 70 74, T Lawrence (Eng) 74 72 69, J Sallat (Fra) 68 78 69,
216
D James (Sco) 71 72 73, T Elliott (Aus) 73 74 69, J Hall (Eng) 73 74
69, W Grant (Eng) 74 71 71, M Wharton (Eng) 70 77 69, R Sabarros (Fra)
72 71 73,
217
P Mayo (Wal) 69 72 76, G Joyner (Aus) 69 75 73, K Smith (Can) 70 71 76,
M Stokes (Eng) 72 70 75, J Murphy (Eng) 73 73 71, S Mondshine (am)
(USA) 68 74 75,
218 G Bell (Eng) 71 73 74, J Lovell (Eng) 74 73 71, J Laforce (Can) 74 73 71, G Banister (Aus) 71 73 74,
219
K Tarling (Can) 73 76 70, J McHenry (Irl) 72 71 76, J Buendia (Esp) 76
73 70, D Morito (Esp) 74 69 76, C Milne (USA) 76 71 72, Y Nilsson (Swe)
76 74 69,
220 A Mackenzie (Sco) 74 75 71, A Fernandez (Chi) 74 74 72,
221 D Wettlaufer (Can) 75 74 72, T Dodds (Nam) 74 73 74, J Harrison (Eng) 76 69 76,
222 P Gresswell (Eng) 76 73 73, S
Bennett (Eng) 75 72 75, K Hutton (Sco) 74 72 76, J Nougues (Arg) 77 73
72, J O'Brien (am) (Irl) 76 72 74,
223 B James (USA) 78 75 70, J Ryström (Swe) 72 72 79, S McAllister (Sco) 78 71 74,
224
A George (Eng) 76 74 74, C Grenier (Aut) 80 73 71, P Burke (USA) 73 72
79, S McNally (Eng) 76 74 74, R Thompson (USA) 76 77 71,
225 G Norquist (USA) 72 75 78, R Tlhabanyane (RSA) 71 78 76,
226 B Lincoln (RSA) 75 73 78, B White (Eng) 79 75 72,
227 T Burgoyne (Sco) 75 79 73, J Lindberg (Swe) 73 80 74, K Tenmark (Swe) 76 75 76,
228 P Carman (Eng) 76 76 76, M Deboub (Alg) 79 73 76,
229 R Masters (Eng) 75 74 80,
231 D Ray (Eng) 78 73 80,
232 T Giles (Eng) 77 77 78, A Israelsson (Swe) 82 78 72, L Warder (am) (Aus) 82 74 76,
236 J Saxton (USA) 75 83 78, G Litschka (Aut) 85 73 78,
** G Ralph (Eng) 76 78 WD,
** P Martinez (Par) 70 DQ 0, M Buchter (Sui) 87 WD 0,
ENDS
EUROPEAN SENIOR TOUR FINAL QUALIFYING SCHOOL
Pestana Golf Resort, Pinta course, Lagoa, Algarve, Portugal.
LEADING THIRD-ROUND SCORES
Par 213 (3x71)
205 Steve Cipa (Eng) 70 69 66
206 Andrew Murray (Eng) 69 69 68.
210 Gary Marks (Eng) 69 72 69, Barry Conser (USA) 70 69 71
SCOTS' SCORES
215 Robert Arnott 71 70 74 (T13)
216 David James 71 72 73 (T16)
220 Albert Mackenzie 74 75 71 (T38))
222 Kenny Hutton 74 72 76 (T43)
223 Stephen McAllister 78 71 74 (T48)
227 Terry Burgoyne 75 79 73 (T60).
Field of 71 playersLabels: SENIOR PROS
The two-time Portlethen GC junior club champion, who was also the North-east boys stroke-play champion in 2012, will head to the EuroPro qualifying school in March.
