Anyone Going To Tour School?

Photo : INPHO

A total of forty seven Irish players will set out as of this week – and over the next month – to compete in the European Tour Qualifying School Stage 1 which will end on December 9th with Stage 3 to be hosted at the PGA Catalunya where 30 players will earn playing rights for the 2011 season under Category 11b – which guarantees a minimum number of playing opportunities for new season.

In general Tour School graduates over the past 10 seasons have guaranteed 18 tournaments which normally means they will play the events early in the season when the “big guns” are taking a break and recovering from the ever extending golf season. 

At European Tour Qualifying School last year Ireland had 6 representatives reach the final Stage 3 played and on the final day the handful of Irish players included were Niall Kearney, winner of the 2009 Brabazon Trophy and Walker Cup; Simon Thornton, a former Assistant Professional at Royal County Down; Gary Murphy, seeking to reclaim his card ten years after first securing first it and John Kelly, the protégé of Padraig Harrington and the TItleist Performance Center. 

At the end of the three rounds only Thornton and Murphy made it through in 28th and 18th place respectively. 

For the 2011 season there is no reason to believe that the success rate should be any higher even if more players are taking on Stage 1 in the coming four weeks as little will have changed at QS to make it less of a tough initiation to the world of golf. 

It is expected that there will be over 700 participants at the first Stage of which approximately 310 participants will reach the second Stage of which around 80 (25%) will progress to the Final Stage 3. 

The leading 30 players (and ties) at the Final Stage will be eligible for Category 11 Membership of the European Tour for the following season. 

Players who finish below 30th place are eligible for Category 14 Membership of the European Tour and Category 7 Membership of the Challenge Tour for the following season. 

Then the players who miss the cut at the Final Stage will be eligible for Category 12 Membership of the Challenge Tour for the following season. 

For Simon Thornton and Gary Murphy, who did make it, the news about their current season on the main tour is not without it’s hazards either and offers no guarantee of success with the real possibility of a return to Q Scholl always hanging over them - until old they hit the magic number that secures exemption for the next year. 

In the case of Gary Murphy the decline in earnings evidenced in the 2009 season continued this year as the Kilkenny man missed the cut 18 times – out of a total of 22 starts - only making it through to the weekend at the South Africa Championship last December, Open de Andalucia in March, Estoril Open de Portugal in June and the recent Czech Open. 

The total earnings accumulated so far is just over fifteen thousand euro with a current European Tour ranking of 252, leaving him well short of a finish in the top 115 of the Race to Dubai (European Tour Order of Merit). Although a tournament win, in what is left of the season, will assure him of a place next year the odds are stacking up similarly to last year – albeit he was much closer to the mark last season. 

With the players retaining their card on 2009 earnings on a total €250,786 last year things look difficult for Gary and another trip to Q School this year maybe unavoidable in December. 

For Simon Thornton the challenge was perhaps greater given he was truly in his Rookie year on the European Tour, so had to learn the ropes as he went along. In January, things were made more challenging when his Father passed away only days before his fist event, the Africa Open in East London. Bravely, Simon went ahead and played the event as his Father had wished then returning to England for the funeral after – not surprisingly - missing the cut. 

On his return to South Africa he played the J’oburg Open in mid January finishing in a creditable 17th place in on only his second event Tour event. 

He then followed that achievement by making the cut in the next two tournaments with a 36th place at the Open de Andalucia, which was won by 2010 Open Championship winner, Louis Oosthuizen and then 10th place at the Madeira Islands Open BPI – Portugal in April - the very weekend his Daughter was due. 

In the build up to the first Re-rank, and as the bigger events came up in the calendar, Thornton missed five consecutive cuts of which the first was the Open de España in Sevilla, followed by BMW Italian Open, the Ibedrola Open Calla Millor Mallorca and then the Madrid Masters, which was won by Luke Donald and promoted by Spanish golfer, Gonzalo Fernandez Castaño. 

Fortunately the Bradford born player had done enough in the early part of the season to benefit from the re-rank moving up to 18th place and Gary Murphy moving the opposite direction and dropping ten places. 

At the Celtic Manor Wales Open in June Thornton notched up a 61st place finish which he followed with a ninth place in the BMW International Open in Munich - although he had missed his sixth cut in the intervening week at the Estoril Open de Portugal. 

At Eichenried Golfclub in Munich the experience of playing in the final group on the Sunday of a European Tour event with Bradley Dredge and Ross Fisher, who would win the 3 Irish Open only a couple of weeks later, was invaluable in a Rookie season. Also three rounds of 67 leading up to Sunday clearly show that Thornton has the game for the big time as well. 

Although the following week at the Alstom Open de France he missed the cut once more it was remedied with a 41st place finish in the Nordea Scandinavian Masters near Stockholm the week afterwards. In positive frame of mind in Killarney at the 3 Irish Open Thornton was disappointed with his first round of 71. However, on Friday a 74 saw him end three shots off the level par cut with an earlier than planned trip home to Newcastle, County Down. 

After a few weeks break and playing on the Irish Region Thornton was back in action at the Czech Open but went on to miss his seventh cut of the season. It was followed by a weekend stay at the Johnnie Walker Championship in Gleneagles carding a total of 287 shots for 29th place and a cheque for fifteen thousand Euro. 

With the last few events now just over the horizon with over one hundred and four thousand euro earned so far, Simon Thornton needs a few more results to go his way to secure automatic rights for next year and build on his experience. Currently he is 142nd in the European Tour – Race to Dubai rankings. 

After the second Re-rank of Category 11 Exemption in August Thornton moved up to 12th place with Murphy moved further down to 36th place. Despite the improved position Thornton was still four places outside the list for the Omega European Masters at Crans-Sur-Sierre in Switzerland this week. 

For those players starting out this month on the Qualifying School trail with dreams of making the Tour and life as a professional golfer, they should perhaps go no further than the experiences of Gary Murphy and Simon Thornton – last year’s Tour School Irish qualifiers – to remind themselves of how fortune also has to plays it’s part in the story. 

No better example of the tough side of Q School - and how it holds quarter for no one – is Philip Walton who despite being part of a winning 1995 Ryder Cup team Oak Hill, with three wins on the European Tour, playing two Walker Cup’s, the Eisenhower Trophy, winning 4 Irish PGA Titles and the Dunhill World Cup in 1995, the Malahide man battled Stage 3 of Tour School at San Roque on four successive years before finally regaining his card in 2004. 

He more than most will tell you that Tour School is a tough place to be – and to be avoided if at all possible – once you have obtained your card. 

For Simon Thornton there are still options but for Gary Murphy a return would appear very much on the cards. 

August 31st – September 3rd
Section A - Ribagolfe, Lisbon, Portugal
Simon Ward

Section A - The London Club, Kent
Ian Davison
Garrett Leahy (AM)
Niall Turner
Michael McGeady
Shane Franklin

September 7th – 10th 

Section B - Ebreichsdorf, Austria
Justin Brink
Eamonn Brady

Section B - Barbaroux, France
Michael Mulryan
Byron Campbell (AM)
Richard Kilpatrick
Glen Robinson
Cian McNamara


September 14th-17th 
Section C - Dundonald Links
Noel Murray (AM)
Reeve Whitson (AM)
James Monaghan (AM)
Fergal Rafferty
Chris Hughes
Gareth Shaw
Peter O’Keeffe
Mark Staunton
Michael Lavelle
David Mortimer
Barrie Trainor
Michael Collins
Danny Sugrue
Tim Rice
John Kelly
Chris Moriarty
David Higgins
Damian Mooney
Noel Fox

Section C - Fleesensee, Germany
Sean Patrick Ryan (AM)
Neil O Briain (AM)
Stephen Grant
Mervyn Owens
Mark Campbell

September 21st – 24th 
Section D - Wychwood Park, Crewe
David Ruddy (AM)
Cian Daly (AM)
John Price
David Kernoghan (AM)
Dara Lernihan (AM)
Ross Oliver
Cian Curley
David Rawluk
Paul O’Hanlon
Brendan McCarroll

Section D - Bogogno, Fubine, Italy
Ruaidhri McGee (Roda)

Stage Two - November 26th – 29th 
Costa Ballena

Arcos Gardens

Hacienda del Alamo

El Valle Golf Resort


Final Stage Three - December 4th – 9th

PGA Golf Catalunya Resort;  Stadium Course and Tour Course