David Law will be aiming for a final flourish as makes a last push for a place on the European Tour in the closing round of the Qualifying School at PGA Catalunya in north east Spain.
The former Scottish Amateur champion posted a level-par 72 over the Stadium Course for a five-under aggregate of 351 and heads into the sixth and final round two shots outside the current card-winning places.
Kirkhill’s Paul Shields, who slipped back with a damaging 77 in round four, made a spirited recovery with a two-under 70 to give himself a fighting chance of making the qualifying zone.
Shields finished on a four-under 352 and will need to shoot in the 60s to gatecrash the top 25. Peter Whitford, meanwhile, saw his bid to regain the tour card he lost at the end of 2014 suffer a blow as he slithered down the field with a 75.
At the head of affairs, England’s Ross McGowan looks set to return to the main tour after showing the form that once took him to the brink of a Ryder Cup place.
McGowan, who won the Madrid Masters in 2009 and was in the hunt to qualify for the 2010 European team until injury plunged his career into a downward spiral, shot a sparkling eight-under 64 to share the lead with Daniel Im of the US on a 17-under 339.
On the women’s scene, Lydia Ko, the 18-year-old from New Zealand, and Inbee Park will face a final showdown in the LPGA’s CME Group Tour Championship.
Ko is on the verge of winning the Rolex Player of the Year and the Vare Trophy for the lowest scoring average while she could end the season as the world No 1. However, Park, who won two majors this year including the Women’s British Open at Turnberry and is fresh from victory in last weekend’s Lorena Ochoa Invitational, could still overhaul her young rival at the head of those three standings.
"I've just got to concentrate on my game," said Ko. "I know there's obviously a lot of things on the line at the end of Sunday, but if I end up thinking about all the things then it's way too much.”
On the amateur front, some of Scotland’s leading female golfers will feel the benefits of the recently amalgamated governing body when they join their male counterparts on a warm-weather training trip to Abu Dhabi this weekend.
Shannon McWilliam, this year’s Scottish Ladies’ No 1, will join Gabrielle Macdonald, Hannah McCook and Hazel MacGarvie on the trip to the Gulf. Ewen Ferguson, Jack McDonald and Grant Forrest, the Scottish trio who all played for GB&I in September’s Walker Cup, form part of the men’s squad for the three-week training camp.
Meanwhile, the Royal & Ancient has announced that the Amateur Championship will head to Royal Aberdeen for the first time in 2018. The Boys Home Internationals of that year will be staged at Royal Dornoch while the Junior Open will take place at the Eden Course in St Andrews.
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