Thursday, November 16, 2017

Rookie pro Connor Syme only Scot to earn 

European Tour player's card in Spain

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Drumoig's Connor Syme was the only Scot to finish among the top 25 and ties -- 33 players in all with six-round aggregates of 415 and better - at the European Tour Qualifying School Final Stage tournament at Lumine Golf Club, Tarragona in Spain.

Syme had rounds of 72, 73, 63, 67, 67 and 69 for 411 and a tie for ninth place among those who gained admission to the European Tour: quite an achievement for a rookie pro.
Syme, pictured with the Battle Trophy he won in the Crail GS open tournament earlier this year,  summed it up:
"It's been an amazing day and I'm absolutely delighted to earn full status on the European Tour. It's been a brilliant week. The last few rounds were awesome, so I'm delighted with it.
"When you think about the fact that I was playing in the Walker Cup match for GB and I only two months ago, that is just mental!
"It's great to have the opportunity now to test myself against the best players in the world."

Robert MacIntyre failed by only two strokes with a total of 417 (67-71-71-71-66-71) and a T37 finish.
David Law missed out by three shots with 418 (68-73-70-68-69-70) for a T42 position. 
Scot Henry finished T54 on 420 with rounds of 78, 69, 68, 69, 68 and 68. That first round was just too big a millstone round his deck but he deserves credit for being several under par in the following five rounds.
England's Sam Horsfield "won" the Q School title by eight strokes with a tremendous total of 27-under-par 401, made up of scores of 69, 68, 66, 68, 67 and 63.

Play it again, Sam! Horsfield finishes 

eight shots ahead after closing with a 63

                  EUROPEAN TOUR COMMUNICATIONS SUMMARY

Sam Horsfield, pictured below, from 

Davenport and a former Florida University 

star player,  claimed an impressive eight-stroke  victory at Qualifying School Final Stage as 33 players earned European Tour cards on a dramatic sixth and final day at Lumine Golf Club.


The Englishman closed with a staggering eight under par 63, the best round of his professional career and the joint lowest
round of the week, to reach 27 under par overall.

On another day of good scoring in Tarragona, all eyes were on the
qualifying line, with the top 25 and ties earning European Tour cards.

It proved to fall at 13 under par, though it was a nervous wait for the nine players tied on that mark – it would only have taken one more player to reach 14 under par to move the mark up and knock them all out. Ultimately, 33 players earned European Tour status.

Past European Tour winners Kristoffer Broberg, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castaño and Anders Hansen were among the qualifiers while youngsters Jazz Janewattananond, Connor Syme and Jonathan ‘Jigger’ Thomson will embark on rookie years in the Race to Dubai.

James Heath was the first player to confirm his qualification.

The Englishman was out in the first group of the day and birdied

the ninth hole – his last – to reach 14 under par and prolong his

professional career after a tough few years of questioning his

future.

Jazz Janewattananond already had one of the coolest names in golf. Now he's got one of the best golf stories of the year.
The former teen phenom from Thailand -- we use the word "former" lightly since he's still just 21 -- earned his European Tour card for the first time today and he did it in dramatic fashion - with a chip-in eagle on the final hole of Q School. That gave him a final-round 69 and a total of 415 ...
the limit total for gaining European Tour status.
Well done, Jazz!

A 6ft 9in  English golfer who battled leukemia for five years as a child has earned his first European Tour card after finishing birdie-birdie in the final day
Jonathan Thomson hugged his tearful father after shooting 2-under 69  to become one of 33 players to get playing privileges for Europe’s main tour for the 2018 season.
The 21-year-old Thomson was diagnosed with a strain of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia at the age of 7, and went into remission after five years of chemotherapy.
He represented England in tournaments at youth level and turned pro in September 2016, spending this season on the EuroPro Tour – the third tier of European pro golf.
Thomson shot 67-72-68-67-71-69 at Q-School to qualify with two strokes to spare.
“I know who will be leading the driving distance stat next year,” said European Tour player Tyrrell Hatton, a good friend of Thomson's

Player quotes:

Sam Horsfield

“All these experiences add up. Hopefully I will have the opportunity to one day win on the European Tour or the PGA Tour and I can look back on days like today where I came out here and shot 63 in the final round, while having a lead, which is something that you can’t teach and you have to learn by putting yourself in these positions.

“So next time when I have a lead in another tournament I can hopefully reflect on this memory.

“I am not sure I can say I envisaged being here when I first started this journey at First Stage but I feel as though my game has been good for a while and it really came together this week.

“I only missed one green in regulation today and I also managed to hole a lot of putts – which proved to be the difference.”

Gonzalo Fernandez-Castaño

“It’s been a long week and I’m a little tired but it’s been an interesting day. I’ve been super relaxed all week long but today I could feel that tiredness but I managed to hang in there and I guess experience was a key factor.

“Having Alvaro, my friend, on the bag helped a lot and we did it, so it’s been an amazing week. Believe it or not, I was a little nervous today and it’s good to have those butterflies again because it’s been a long time.

“It’s different to when you’re playing to win a tournament but it was a good thing – I’ve always enjoyed playing under pressure and today was one of those days.

“My only goal now is to win another European Tour event so that I can be one ahead of Alvaro!”


James Heath

“This bloody game, eh! It’s just an emotional rollercoaster. I genuinely wasn’t going to come this week, I entered last minute and gave it one last push and now I’ve got my European Tour card!

“I don’t know if I’m disappointed now that I can’t give up! I’m half-joking, there’s 30 or 40% of me that thinks that, but it’s just this game, and this week – I’m taking a good bit of time off now because I’ve got another baby coming so I need to go and be a dad and a partner.

“Wow I felt pressure on the last putt! In my head I was going ‘just make contact, just make contact!’ because I couldn’t feel my hands. To birdie the last to get in was phenomenal but I just got it done so now it’s time to celebrate, take some time off and just enjoy this.”



Final scores:
PAR 428 (2X72, 4X71)
401 S Horsfield (Eng) 69 68 66 68 67 63 
409 J Kruyswijk (SAf) 71 71 70 66 67 64; P Widegren (Swe) 69 72 68 69 66 65; A Pavan (Ita) 65 68 71 73 67 65; A Hansen (Denmark) 71 71 69 67 65 66; C Ford (Eng) 73 69 66 64 70 67; J Winther (Denmark) 67 67 72 71 64 68 
410 K Broberg (Swe) 70 71 67 68 66 68
411 J Geary (NZ) 72 71 72 67 64 65; M Foster (Eng) 67 72 68 71 66 67; C Syme (Sco) 72 73 63 67 67 69
412 P Angles (Spn) 73 70 69 68 65 67; G Fernandez - Castaño (Spn) 72 70 69 68 65 68; L Canter (Eng) 71 64 67 75 66 69
413 S Gros (Fra) 70 69 74 67 67 66; R McGowan (Eng) 72 71 68 70 65 67; N Geyger (Chile) 67 74 69 68 68 67
414 L Gagli (Ita) 71 73 66 72 67 65; S Heisele (Ger) 72 67 70 70 70 65; J Heath (Eng) 72 68 68 69 71 66; M Schwab (Austria) 71 69 67 71 69 67; H Sturehed (Swe) 67 71 71 70 67 68; J Thomson (Eng) 67 72 68 67 71 69; M Baldwin (Eng) 71 69 68 68 66 72
415 B Evans (Eng) 69 66 68 71 75 66; J Walters (SAf) 75 71 66 69 67 67; M Schneider (Ger) 68 74 71 68 67 67; C Bezuidenhout (SAf) 69 69 72 70 68 67; F Aguilar (Chile) 73 70 68 69 67 68; M Nixon (Eng) 70 71 70 69 66 69; G Moynihan (Ire) 69 72 67 68 70 69; J Janewattananond (Thailand) 74 71 65 65 71 69; C Blomstrand (Swe) 72 69 67 66 69 72

REMAINDER FAILED TO GAIN EUROPEAN TOUR PLAYING RIGHTS

416 M Armitage (Eng) 71 71 74 68 66 66; Ó Serna (Mexico) 68 72 67 73 69 67; C Braeunig (Ger) 70 70 67 71 70 68 
417 M Iten (Switz) 74 70 67 71 69 66; C Lloyd (Eng) 68 71 71 72 68 67; A Knappe (Ger) 69 72 69 69 69 69; T Murray (Eng) 70 63 75 70 69 70; R Macintyre (Sco) 67 71 71 71 66 71
418 E Johansen (Norway) 68 73 72 70 70 65; H Leon (Chile) 73 72 69 68 69 67; P Howard (Eng) 73 66 74 69 68 68; J Edfors (Swe) 70 72 70 67 69 70; T Lewis (Eng) 75 69 68 67 69 70; D Law (Sco) 68 73 70 68 69 70; J Quesne (Fra) 69 72 69 69 69 70; K Johannessen (Norway) 71 69 67 72 67 72
419 J Hansen (Denmark) 72 73 70 69 68 67; J Munro (Australia) 69 71 69 71 69 70; G Stal (Fra) 64 71 73 70 71 70; N Kimsey (Eng) 68 73 70 68 69 71
420 S Webster (Eng) 69 74 73 68 70 66; S Henry (Sco) 78 69 68 69 68 68; O Lindell (Finland) 73 71 66 70 68 72; A Michael (SAf) 73 71 66 74 63 73
421 S Tiley (Eng) 72 70 68 73 72 66; E Park (SKorea) 72 72 66 73 70 68; S Manley (Wales) 69 68 70 73 70 71; M Millar (Australia) 74 67 69 68 72 71
422 K Samooja (Finland) 73 69 69 70 72 69; R McGee (Ire) 72 73 70 67 70 70; P Mejow (Ger) 69 70 74 70 68 71
423 A Arnaus (Spn) 70 70 71 70 73 69; S Vincent (Zimbabwe) 72 72 69 70 67 73
424 M Lafeber (Netherlands) 68 73 73 68 72 70
426 K Koivu (am) (Finland) 70 70 72 72 72 70; S Sharma (India) 75 73 68 67 71 72; P Maddy (Eng) 77 68 70 67 72 72; S Khan (Eng) 72 71 73 68 69 73
427 J Huldahl (Denmark) 67 75 69 72 72 72
428 A Hall (Australia) 73 69 70 71 72 73
430 A Cañizares (Spn) 73 73 70 68 77 69 

EUROPEAN TOUR COMMUNICATIONS

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