Tuesday, November 15, 2016

 Kimsey's 61 makes him leading Q School   
qualifier for final two rounds in Spain

EUROPEAN TOUR COMMUNICATIONS
Nathan Kimsey produced the round of his life to jump to the top of the leaderboard at the Final Stage of the European Tour Qualifying School, a nine under par 61 taking him three shots clear after four rounds.
The Englishman has had to come through First and Second Stage to earn his place in the field at PGA Catalunya Resort and he took full advantage of his shot at a place in next season’s Race to Dubai with the low round of the week on the par-70 Tour Course.
Especially remarkable was the 23 year old’s grandstand finish, following up birdies on 16 and 17 with an eagle on the last – the second eagle of his back nine – as he left all others in his wake in Girona.

Nathan
“I can’t quite put it into words really,” he said. “I was playing quite well and had it at five under going into the last three holes and I knew they were three decent chances, so I just tried to give myself putts for birdie every hole.
“I hit a couple of good wedge shots into 16 and 17 and then found the middle of the green in two down the last and I just tried to lag it up close and it happened to drop in for the eagle three, and turned a good score into a great score.
“That’s the lowest I’ve ever shot – I think I’ve had a 63 before, but nothing like that kind of score in a week as big as this, so it was definitely the right time to do it with all this at stake.
“There’s still a lot of golf to be played, 36 holes around a pretty tough golf course, so heading out today I was really just trying to consolidate my position inside the cut – playing on the Tour Course I knew there would be some opportunities for me but I was just looking to get anything under par.
“I had it going ok and then that finish has shot me right up there, so it’s changed my situation a little but I’m just going to try to keep doing what I have done over these last few days in the next couple of rounds.
“I was feeling ok coming here. I played quite nicely for the most part at Second Stage last week, and I’d been playing better towards the end of this season, so I knew my game was coming around the right way, but I never could have guessed I’d have gone out and shot something like this, it’s just a great feeling.
“I’m going to approach the final two rounds just the same as I have this whole week. I’ve played nicely round the Stadium Course all week, under par for both rounds there so far – the main thing is to keep it in play off the tee, so I’ll try to do that and then just stick to the same things I’ve been doing.”
Behind Kimsey on nine under par are Robert Coles, Richard McEvoy, Edoardo Molinari and Jeff Winther but the more significant action concerned the cut line, with the top 70 and ties making it through to a 36-hole shoot-out on the Stadium Course, after which the top 25 and ties will earn European Tour cards for 2017.
Ultimately the cut fell at level par 284, with 72 players set for the final two days including Ireland’s Gary Hurley and Northern Irishman Michael Hoey, who both squeezed through on the mark with impressive birdies on the last.
Pontus Widegren, playing alongside Hurley, eagled the 18th to move inside the cut line too, but notable names such as Roope Kakko and Alvaro Quiros missed out in northern Spain, as did Craig Lee, the top-ranked Race to Dubai player not to retain his card, after he bogeyed two of his final three holes to drop to two over par.

TO VIEW ALL THE SCORES

CLICK HERE

Labels:

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home

Copyright © Colin Farquharson

If you can't find what you are looking for.... please check the Archive List or search this site with Google