Mark Murphy of Waterville notched up two bogeys and then matched them with a total of seven birdies on the final day of the USPGA Qualifying School Stage One in Lantana Texas, to finish with a 68. The seven under par total placed him in eighth place and on his way to the Second Stage in mid-November.
Seamus Power made the turn in 38 shots and under pressure to maintain the momentum of day three and his fifteenth place. But with only one birdie on the back stretch – on the par four 17th – the West Waterford player had to settle for a 73 and an anxious wait to see if it was enough to keep him inside the top 23 places.
In the end it for Power was a 24th and just one place outside the mark.
For Niall Turner a final round of six under was just not enough to grab one of the twenty three spots on offer on level par despite carding total of nine birdies – and dropping only three shots in all - on holes 9, 15 and 18.
Turner now will focus on his Second Stage of European Tour School which will be played between November 26th -29th in the South of Spain.
Having made the turn in 34 shots Turner reached the second last hole of the back nine on 5 under for eight holes only to give up a shot on the final - ninth - hole to end the day with a very creditable 66 and 34th place.
Thomas Kearney finished the four days on 6 over par and started the morning knowing that on the final day he needed more than level par to make up for the 78 on Thursday. In the end he dropped down to 56th place as result of his level par round of 72.
Fergal Rafferty ended Friday with a round of 76 – with six bogeys in all – and only two birdies on his card to finish on eight over par overall and well outside the reckoning in 63rd place with his last two rounds of 77 and 76 being the major setback...
The overnight leader, Case Devoll finished with a one under par 71 to end the event on 18 under par with Shawn Stefani second on 16 under.
