Craig Lee sets pace at Qualifying School

Scotsman Craig Lee cemented his place in the next stage of European Tour Qualifying School with a stunning round of 66 at Dundonald Links, one of four venues for First Qualifying Stage, Section A.   The round propelled Lee into first place at nine-under-par overall, five shots ahead of Englishman Jamie Elson, whose 76 was out of character with his previous three rounds, but was still enough for him to qualify for Second Stage in November nonetheless. Twenty four players in Scotland made it through to the next round, where the goal will be to reach the Final Stage and ultimately win one of 30 places available on The 2010 European Tour International Schedule.

There was agony for Paul McKechnie and Gary King, whose rounds of 77 and 75 respectively meant they missed out on qualification by one shot.

At Lübker Golf Resort in Denmark, where 13 players qualified, Lars Johansen remained top of the leaderboard after posting a second-successive 71 to stay two shots clear of Lars Johansson of Sweden. Danish amateur Daniel Lokke shot his best score of the four rounds, 72, to scrape through.

At Chart Hills Golf Club in England, where 21 players booked their place at Second Stage, James Busby posted a 66 to win by two shots from overnight leader Matthew Baldwin. The pair, who finished 16 and 14-under-par respectively, were way ahead of the rest of the field but the best score of the day came from American Russell Surber, whose 64 meant he qualified by two shots. Dutch amateur Sven Maurits also produced an impressive final round, carding a 65 to move up to third place at eight under.

Another Dutch amateur, Jurrian Van der Vaart, won at Ribagolfe in Lisbon, Portugal after a 72 in the final round kept him at the top of the leaderboard, one shot ahead of Swede Johan Bjerhag. Thirteen players qualified, but Spaniard Diego Torne was not among them after he crashed to a 79 in the fourth round, meaning he missed out by two shots.

Results 

Complete scores after round three from Lübker Golf Resort, Nimtofte, Denmark: (13 players qualified)

285 L Johansen (Den) 73 70 71 71, 287 L Johansson (Swe) 74 75 67 71, 288 V Almstrom (Swe) 71 74 69 74, 290 M Bliss (Can) 73 73 72 72, 291 N Lemke (Swe) 73 74 72 72, 293 T Norret (Den) 72 73 73 75, 294 M McQuillan (Can) 76 72 71 75, 296 A Axelsson (Swe) 78 75 68 75, 297 M Warenius (Swe) 74 74 72 77, F Ohlsson (Swe) 77 75 69 76, C Lange (Den) 76 73 74 74, B Ahlenback (Swe) 73 73 74 77, D Lokke (am) (Den) 73 77 75 72, 299 T Nielsen (Den) 75 74 72 78, 301 K Storgaard (Den) 75 75 73 78, 304 P Malmgren (Swe) 78 75 72 79, B Akstrup (Den) 79 76 69 80,   Complete scores after round three from Ribagolfe, Lisbon, Portugal:

281 J Van Der Vaart (am) (Ned) 68 69 72 72, 282 J Bjerhag (Swe) 70 70 71 71, 283 J Pettersson (Swe) 72 73 70 68, 284 M Bothma (RSA) 71 71 70 72, 286 J Poucher (USA) 68 71 72 75, 287 L Claverie (Esp) 74 72 72 69, F Cea (Esp) 67 73 77 70, 288 J Little  (Eng) 69 74 74 71, P Del Grosso  (Arg) 71 74 71 72, 289 M Ureta  (Chi) 70 74 71 74, 291 P Pinto (Arg) 74 76 73 68, 293 H Santos  (Por) 74 72 74 73, A Gutierrez (Esp) 76 74 75 68, 294 R Eriksson (Swe) 76 74 72 72, J Kelly (Nor) 76 73 75 70, C Cousins  (Wal) 71 79 72 72, M Cobo Arrayas (Esp) 70 78 74 72, L Dodd  (Eng) 73 76 72 73, R Bastard (Eng) 77 75 72 70, 295 C Nel (RSA) 71 76 73 75, P Hansen (Den) 74 75 75 71, D Torne (Esp) 74 73 69 79, 296 J Evans (Eng) 71 77 72 76, 297 S Grant  (Irl) 75 75 73 74, D Hutton (Eng) 71 73 82 71, 298 J Billing (Swe) 76 76 74 72, 299 M Hedegaard (Den) 73 75 76 75, N Drane (Eng) 74 78 75 72, 300 J Carlson (Swe) 73 71 80 76, 303 D Carrera (Esp) 75 76 76 76, K Grud (Den) 75 75 73 80,   Complete scores from Dundonald Links, Ayrshire, Scotland: (24 players qualified)

279 C Lee (Sco) 78 70 65 66, 284 J Elson  (Eng) 69 69 70 76, 286 T Dykes (Wal) 69 73 73 71, 287 C Kelly (Sco) 73 73 73 68, 288 J McCreadie (Sco) 74 75 66 73, G Cowan (Eng) 73 70 70 75, L De Jager  (RSA) 69 70 72 77, 289 J Ablett (Eng) 74 74 72 69, 290 S Doherty (Eng) 73 73 74 70, K McAlpine (am) (Sco) 67 73 69 81, M Hillson (am) (Sco) 75 72 71 72, 291 P O'Hara (Sco) 75 76 68 72, M Quiros (Esp) 71 76 73 71, R Lee (Eng) 71 74 71 75, M Kerr  (Sco) 72 71 77 71, 292 L Harper (Sco) 78 72 70 72, O Whiteley (Eng) 74 74 69 75, D Belch (Eng) 71 75 72 74, S Henderson (Sco) 72 76 75 69, 293 S Gray (Sco) 72 75 72 74, I Keenan (Eng) 74 72 75 72, J Axgren (Swe) 76 75 70 72, I Ridgway  (Eng) 75 72 71 75, W Bowe (am) (Eng) 73 70 74 76, 294 P McKechnie (Sco) 73 74 70 77, G King (Eng) 76 72 71 75, 295 A Lockhart (Sco) 74 74 72 75, G Marks (Eng) 74 77 71 73, G Yates (am) (Sco) 76 72 75 72, 296 B Trainor  (Irl) 70 78 74 74, S Jackson (Eng) 77 72 74 73, S McAllister (Sco) 76 69 73 78, E Little (Sco) 75 73 74 74, 297 B McElhinney  (Irl) 78 75 70 74, J Harper (Eng) 75 78 73 71, A Hodkinson (Eng) 76 72 78 71, 298 S Capper (Eng) 77 73 72 76, S Mackie (Sco) 73 73 73 79, G Plumet (Fra) 71 74 77 76, D Holloway (Nzl) 77 75 72 74, 299 D Astin (Eng) 77 73 71 78, B Howlett (Eng) 83 71 72 73, R Carter (am) (Eng) 78 73 72 76, K Nicol (am) (Sco) 76 72 77 74, 300 C Campbell (Sco) 79 74 71 76, R Cameron (Sco) 72 75 75 78, S Garcia-Grout (Esp) 76 73 74 77, 301 L McNaughton (Aus) 75 76 75 75, 302 J Fallon (Eng) 78 74 71 79, P Cormack  (Sco) 79 74 73 76, M Lavelle  (Irl) 78 75 71 78, 303 J Housby (Eng) 77 73 74 79, S Hume (Sco) 76 75 74 78, J Findlay (am) (Sco) 74 76 75 78, 304 C Wilson (am) (Eng) 73 73 80 78, 306 O Arvidsson (am) (Swe) 74 79 71 82,   Complete scores after round two from Chart Hills Golf Club, England (21 players qualified)

272 J Busby (Eng) 67 68 71 66, 274 M Baldwin (Eng) 69 67 68 70, 280 S Maurits (am) (Ned) 69 72 74 65, 281 O Turnill  (Eng) 70 71 73 67, 283 M Vandenberg (Eng) 71 70 71 71, B Jones (Eng) 74 69 69 71, 284 J Ruebotham (Eng) 74 71 71 68, N Chaudhuri  (Eng) 76 74 68 66, J Hendry (Sco) 71 75 71 67, R Surber (USA) 78 72 70 64, M Laskey  (Wal) 71 71 76 66, A Tarchetti (Eng) 70 73 71 70, J McLean (Aus) 72 72 71 69, J Watts (am) (Eng) 74 71 70 69, 285 M Lowe (Eng) 75 74 65 71, J Abbott (am) (Eng) 72 75 69 69, 286 W Hefferman (Can) 69 75 72 70, M Ford (Eng) 69 77 69 71, K Harper (Eng) 75 73 69 69, F McGuirk  (Eng) 71 73 75 67, G Povey (am) (Eng) 70 76 71 69, 287 R Watkins  (Eng) 71 76 71 69, D Lloyd (RSA) 70 74 75 68, G Davies (Eng) 72 73 72 70, B St John (Eng) 73 78 67 69, J Barnes (Eng) 73 74 74 66, 288 T Prowse (Aus) 72 73 69 74, N Redfern (Eng) 69 73 72 74, B Banks (Eng) 71 75 72 70, Y Ali  (Eng) 74 72 71 71, 289 M Feuerstein (USA) 73 76 71 69, M Searle (Eng) 73 73 74 69, S Lee (am) (Eng) 72 74 70 73, I Winstanley (am) (Eng) 73 77 69 70, 290 J Kavanagh (Eng) 75 73 73 69, J Gallagher  (Sco) 76 72 70 72, R Jones (Eng) 71 78 69 72, 291 C Lockwood   (Eng) 74 75 73 69, R Edginton (Eng) 77 74 71 69, K Staunton  (Eng) 72 76 72 71, P Maddy (Eng) 73 74 77 67, C Gill (Eng) 77 71 71 72, 292 D James (Eng) 76 73 74 69, 293 J Smith (Eng) 76 73 71 73, D Thomas (Eng) 76 75 70 72, 294 G Woodman (Eng) 75 72 75 72, P Appleyard (Eng) 71 70 79 74, R Neil-Jones (Eng) 76 72 72 74, M Bush (Eng) 72 78 74 70, J Clarke (Eng) 74 73 77 70, J Webber (am) (Eng) 71 71 76 76, 295 J Hearn (Eng) 74 71 77 73, B O'Donoghue (Aus) 73 77 72 73, S McCance (Eng) 73 77 73 72, 296 C Simpson (Eng) 73 78 73 72, 297 R Whitelock  (Eng) 72 74 76 75, R Buxton  (Eng) 70 75 75 77, 302 K Shepherd (Eng) 77 74 73 78, S Kemp (Bah) 78 75 71 78,