Irish Amateur Pat Errity of The European club secured one of the six places at the European Senior Tour Qualifying School Final Stage in Portugal on Thursday earning playing rights for the 2011 season finishing in a tie for second - five shots behind American Tim Thelen - after carding a five under par final round of 66.
”I’m delighted to get my card as it has been a target of mine for a few years now,” said Errity. “I hit the ball out of bounds on the eighth hole but then holed from 140 yards with my next shot. The crowd thought it was an eagle! That kept my round going and I played well after that.”
Pat Errity, who will turn professional before he joins the Senior Tour in March when he celebrates his 50 birthday. Errity carded a flawless five under par 66 to finish in second place, following a final round card play-off.
Thelen fired a closing round 65 to lead the 16 graduates who gained cards for the 2011 European Senior Tour on a nerve-filled final day at Qualifying School Final Stage an impressive five strokes clear of Errity and Swede Peter Dahlberg.
The 49 year old, who will become eligible to join the Senior Tour when he turns 50 next June, started the two strokes behind Austrian Gordon Manson but produced a superb front nine to put daylight between himself and the rest of the field.
He reached the turn at Pestana Golf Resort’s Vale da Pinta in just 29 shots after birdies on the second, seventh and ninth and an eagle on the par four eighth, when he holed his eight second shot from 149 yards.
Further birdies on the tenth and 12th followed before he three putted the 14th for his only bogey of the day.
By that time he had already opened up a seemingly unassailable advantage at the top of the leader board and the man from Texas came home with four consecutive pars to secure his card for 2011.
Thelen, who had led the qualifiers from First Stage at Gramacho, gains full playing rights along with Errity, Dahlberg, Chilean Angel Fernandez, Scotland’s Fraser Mann and Spaniard Manuel Moreno.
“It means everything to me to secure my card and get on the Senior Tour,” said Thelen. “It is what I came over to achieve and it went so well these last two weeks.
“I found something on the range last night and this morning. I think I’d started overturning on the backswing so I stopped that.
“I got off to a great start today and then after the run I had from seven to ten I just tried to coast it in and get back to the clubhouse. It was my wife Lucinda’s birthday yesterday so this is a nice present for her.”
PGA Club professional Thelen, who was a former college friend of European Ryder Cup Captain Colin Montgomerie in, was inspired to join the Senior Tour by another friend, compatriot Bob Boyd who has been a member since 2005.
“Bob has really enjoyed himself on the Senior Tour over the past five years and I wanted to give a go myself,” he said. “I spoke to him after First Stage and he said that I was good enough to get through Final Stage and it’s great to have done that. Hopefully I can come over here after my birthday in June then retain my card and play on the Senior Tour for as long as I can.”
With neither Thelen nor Dahlberg turning 50 until the New Year, Dahlberg assumes the mantle of leading qualifier, improving on last year when he could only secure an alternate card in 18th place.
Dahlberg, who recorded two top 20s on the Senior Tour in 2010 in Mauritius and the Czech Republic, signed for a final round 68 and believes his full playing rights will help him produce even better results in 2011.
“From the beginning I knew I had it in me and I just stayed calm,” said the 56 year old. “It’s such an ordeal – it’s not like a normal tournament so I’m pleased with the way I handled it.
“I actually missed a short putt for birdie on the first and then my ball was stuck up a tree on the second but I said to myself ‘move forward’ and I did it.”
While the leading six players gain full cards for 72 player events for 2011, a further ten players secured alternate cards in category nine.
In order, they were: American Jeb Stuart, South African Steve Van Vuuren, Australian Graham Banister, Austrian Gordon Manson, American Joe Stansberry, Englishman Brian Evans, French pair Jean Pierre Sallat and François Illouz, Scotland’s Terry Burgoyne and Northern Ireland’s Jimmy Heggarty.
