It’s the halfway point of the six-round Qualifying School but there is not one Scot in the European Tour card-winning places going into round four at PGA Catalunya in north east Spain.
There’s still plenty of golf to be played, of course. Paul Shields, the former Scotland amateur cap from Glasgow, continued his steady progress to finish on the fringes of the qualifying zone after 54-holes.
Shields birdied two his last three holes over the Tour Course for a two-under 68 as he moved on to a seven-under aggregate of 205. That left him in a share of 26th, just one shot shy of the current qualifying mark and seven behind halfway leaders, Lukas Nemecz of Austria and Swedish amateur, Marcus Kinhult.
David Law, the former Scottish Amateur champion, had four birdies in his 68 for a 207 while Peter Whiteford, who dropped off the main tour at the end of the 2014 campaign, continued his recovery after an opening 74 with a best-of-the-day five-under 67 over the tougher Stadium Course. Whiteford, a three-time winner on the European Challenge Tour, illuminated his round with an eagle on the seventh as he clambered up the field with a three-under 211.
“To be honest that’s the best I’ve played in easily two years,” admitted Whiteford. “If you’d asked me a few weeks ago, getting on tour wouldn’t have been that exciting because I probably wasn’t good enough to do anything if I got there.
“Now the swing is back it’s a lot more exciting but I guess a little more stressful. There’s a long way to go though. The first two rounds I really scored terribly. But I’ve a good chance now to get back into the mix and see what happens from there.”
Scott Henry and Ross Kellett, who have played the two courses in a different rotation, were sitting on two-under 210s heading into the fourth round but Bradley Neil’s hopes of gaining a solid foothold in the professional game suffered a crippling blow as the 19-year-old rookie from Blairgowrie sagged to a four-over 76 on the Stadium layout.
With only the leading 70 and ties after today’s fourth round progressing to the final 36-holes, Neil, the 2014 Amateur champion, is well outside that mark. By making the cut he would at least earn a full status for the second-tier Challenge Tour but that is now an uphill task after a damaging round marred by a triple-bogey on the 14th.
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