Qualifying School joy for internationals at second stage
FORMAT: 72-hole stroke play
International amateur duo Callan Barrow and Luke Harries have made it through to the third and final stage of DP World Tour Qualifying School, which starts in Spain on Friday.
The Englishman from Royal Lytham and Welshman Harries are looking forward to six rounds at Infinitum in Tarragona with the top 25 finishers earning their full card.
There are a range of other incentives for those in the 156-strong field, including Challenge Tour status for all who make the cut, and yesterday Barrow and Harries did the business at Las Colinas, one of four venues in Spain used for the second stage.
For Barrow, who had club-mate Jamie Van Wyk on the bag, his resurgence in form has been perfectly timed. Problems keeping the ball on the fairway have dogged him for most of the season but this weekend he put that right to finish joint 10th with the top 23 qualifying.
“I have started hitting the ball alright, especially off the tee,” said the 24-year-old, who won last year’s Scottish Open.
“I played pretty well all four rounds and didn’t hole anything apart from in the third round.”
On Saturday Barrow racked up six birdies on his way to a five under 66 to put himself right in the mix on five under overall having opening with rounds of 70 and 72.
“Going into the last round I thought I was going to have to shoot under par to make it,” he added. In fact the cut came at -3 with Aussie Jordan Zunic squeezing in after a three-man play-off
“I thought the cut was going to come at six and, stood on the 18th tee, I thought I needed to birdie it to make it.”
And he did just that at the par five where he gave himself 225 yards over the water for his second and stuck his five iron to just off the green before lagging his eagle putt to 12 inches. It capped a great finish for the Lancashire player. On 16 he rolled in a 15-footer before just missing out on another birdie at the 230-yard 17th.
Van Wyk will again be caddying for his pal at the Infinitum, where the field will play three rounds on each of the Lakes and Hills courses, provided they make the cut after 72 holes. Fortunately for Barrow, his bagman played the Lakes as part of the R&A Tour Series in March.
For Harries support comes in the form of his caddy and brother Jack and he needed to hold his nerve after making it in by one.
Harries was in great shape after getting to eight under after 54 holes but putting problems on the front nine yesterday saw him turn in a four-over 39 before things steadied down coming home.
“It was a strange day,” said Harries, who has just graduated after five years at Lincoln Memorial in Tennessee.
“I was hitting the ball well all week but my putter just went cold on the front nine.
“With about four or five holes to go I knew where the cut line was going to be and I tried to relax and play some golf.”
A critical birdie on 16 gave Harries some breathing space before he bogeyed the treacherous par three 17th and managed to hold his nerve down the last, parring the par five to qualify by one shot.
He added: “I have had a lot of good experiences this Summer, playing in the Eisenhower and then at the Cazoo Open at Celtic Manor. I will just try and play to the best of my ability and see where we go.”
Both players also had to make it through the first stage. Barrow, who was part of the Red Rose team who won this year’s County Championship, made it to Spain at Mottram Hall last month while Harries, who represented his country in this year’s Eisenhower Trophy, travelled to Sweden in September, qualifying in 11th.
Meanwhile, at Infinitum, the 92 second stage qualifiers will be joined by a host of DP World Tour regulars who are currently placed 118 and lower in the rankings. That includes the likes of Erik Van Rooyen, David Horsey and Joost Luiten.