Archer leads the Qualifying charge
23 Nov 2009 - 16:39:00
Seventy-five happy golfers emerged through the Second Qualifying Stage to take their places at this week's Final Stage, most notably England's Philip Archer, American Ryan Blaum, European Tour champion Santiago Luna of Spain and Sweden's Fredrik Ohlsson.
That quartet all finished top of the pile at their respective courses, all of which are located in southern Spain: Sherry Golf Jerez, Hacienda Del Alamo, Arcos Gardens and Costa Ballena Ocean Golf Club.
Archer, who finished in the top 30 of The European Tour Order of Merit two years ago, led the 18 qualifiers from Sherry Golf Jerez, finishing two shots clear of second placed Manuel Quiros of Spain on 15 under par.
Frenchman Anthony Snobeck and Denmark's Lasse Jensen took the last two available places, having prevailed in a four man play-off. Over at Arcos Gardens veteran Spaniard Luna led the way on 12 under par, two shots clear of Indonesia's Rory Hie - who shot a stunning round of 64 - with South African Michiel Bothma a further two strokes back in third place.
Scotland's Greig Hutcheon and Austrian Hans Peter Bacher took the 18th and 19th spots, having seen of all comers in a five man play-off.
There was no need for a play-off at Hacienda Del Alamao, where American Blaum kept up his fine form to prevail by five shots from 2008 European Amateur Champion Stephan Gross Jr of Germany. Brazilian Alexandre Rocha, the joint winner of the Qualifying School in 2006, also made it through to the final showdown in Girona, whilst England's Michael Lowe took the 17th and final spot.
An eight man play-off was needed to determine the final two places at Costa Ballena Ocean Golf Club, where Swede Ohlsson came out on top on 14 under par.
Amateur Championship finalist and Walker Cup player Sam Hutsby of England also came through in tied 11th place, whilst the final two places were taken by Italian Marco Soffietti and Norway's Marius Thorp, who needed extra holes to see off the other six hopefuls.All 75 players will now take their places at the six round Final Stage, which starts this Saturday at PGA Golf de Catalunya in Girona, Spain.
