Author Archives: Golf Bible

ET Second Stage Q-School 2014: Day 3

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9th November 2014

European Tour QS

The Second Stage European Tour Qualifying School events started on Friday in Spain. 293 players are competing over 72-holes across four venues.  All are looking to progress to the Final Stage which will take place at the PGA Catalunya Resort between 15th and 20th November. Ultimately the top 25 and tied finishers will secure Category 15 European Tour cards via the Q-School series.

I have collated the 54-holes scores of the GB&I Amateurs, some of the GB&I Pro’s and various Overseas Notables below.

This week there are 68 qualifying spots available across the four venues – 17 at El Saler, Las Colinas, Lumine and Panoramica (an extra one was added to Panoramica overnight).

If you want to look at the detailed results for each venue simply click on the underlined Course Names and a link will take you to the European Tour’s live scoring page for that site.

Campo de Golf El Saler
6,449 yards, Par 72 – 29 GB&I players / 17 Qualifying Spots

  • T  1  Wallace Booth (SCO)  73, 68, 69 (-6)
  • T  1  Simon Griffiths (ENG)  72, 69, 69 (-6)
  • T  4  Matthew Fitzpatrick (ENG)  72, 72, 67 (-5)
  • T  4  Ben Parker (ENG)  71, 72, 68 (-5)
  • T  6  Garry Houston (WAL)  70, 71, 71 (-4)
  • T  8  Chris Lloyd (ENG) 72, 69, 72 (-3)
  • T  8  Ryan Evans (ENG)  76, 70, 67 (-3)
  • T  8  Billy Hemstock (ENG)  73, 72, 68 (-3)
  • T16  Neil Chaudhuri (ENG)  72, 71, 72 (-1)
  • T16  Michael McGeady (IRE)  73, 70, 72 (-1)
  • T26  Dominic Foos (GER)  74, 73, 72 (+3)
  • T42  Joshua White (ENG)  75, 73, 74 (+6)
  • T48  Elliott Saltman (SCO)  77, 70, 76 (+7)

Las Colinas Golf & Country Club
6,974 yards, Par 71 – 25 GB&I players / 17 Qualifying Spots

  • T  1  Sam Walker (ENG)  68, 63, 66 (-16)
  • T  2  Jamie Elson (ENG)  65, 68, 68 (-12)
  • T  2  Chris Paisley (ENG)  66, 66, 69 (-12)
  • T  6  Richard McEvoy (ENG)  67, 65, 71 (-10)
  • T  8  Alex Wrigley (ENG)  69, 69, 66 (-9)
  • T10  Scott Fallon (ENG)  67, 69, 69 (-8)
  • T10  Emilio Cuartero Blanco (AM) (SPA)  69, 70, 66 (-8)
  • T10  Geoffrey Drakeford* (AUS)  69, 67, 69 (-8)
  • T25  Jordan Smith (ENG)  73, 67, 69 (-4)
  • T25  Raymond Russell (SCO)  68, 70, 71 (-4)
  • T38  Chris Robb (SCO)  69, 72, 69 (-3)
  • T38  Zane Scotland (ENG)  68, 69, 73 (-3)
  • T54  Alexander Culverwell (AM) (SCO)  66, 73, 74 (Par)

Lumine Golf & Beach Club (Lakes)
6,909 yards, Par71 – 27 GB&I players / 17 Qualifying Spots

  • T  6  Paul Howard (AM) (ENG)  70, 67, 68 (-8)
  • T  6  Neil Kearney (IRE)  70, 69, 66 (-8)
  • T  6  Paul Maddy (ENG)  75, 65, 65 (-8)
  • T14  James Heath (ENG)  72, 65, 71 (-5)
  • T14  Garrick Porteous (ENG)  67, 77, 64 (-5)
  • T14  Neil Fenwick (SCO)  72, 67, 69 (-5)
  • T14  Steven Tiley (ENG)  70, 69, 69 (-5)
  • T14  Nathan Kimsey (ENG)  72, 67, 69 (-5)
  • T26  Ashley Chesters (AM) (ENG)  72, 66, 72 (-3)
  • T46  Luke Johnson (AM) (ENG)  75, 68, 70 (Par)
  • T52  Stiggy Hodgson (ENG)  73, 71, 70 (+1)
  • T57  Neil Raymond (ENG)  72, 70, 73  (+2)

Panoramica Golf & Sport Resort
7,030 yards, Par 72 – 29 GB&I players / 17 Qualifying Spots

  •  1st  Toby Tree (ENG)  66, 67, 65  (-18)
  • 2nd  Matthew Southgate (ENG)  66, 69, 64  (-17)
  • T  7  Martin Sell (ENG)  68, 66, 69  (-13)
  • T  9  Tom Murray (ENG)  65, 73, 66  (-12)
  • T13  Duncan Stewart (SCO)  75, 63, 67 (-11)
  • T15  Renato Paratore (AM) (ITA)  70, 65, 71 (-10)
  • T28  Zander Lombard (AM) (SA)  68, 70, 70 (-8)
  • T54  Mark Young* (ENG)  72, 71, 70  (-3)
  • T59  Scott Borrowman (AM) (SCO)  68, 71, 75 (-2)
  • T66  Luke Joy (ENG)  75, 69, 72  (Par)

* Turned Professional ahead of Q-School.

ME.

Copyright © 2014, Mark Eley. All rights reserved.

ET Second Stage Q-School 2014: Day 2

Posted on by

8th November 2014

European Tour QS

Second Stage European Tour Qualifying School events started yesterday in Spain.  293 players are competing across four venues, all looking to progress to the Final Stage which will take place at the PGA Catalunya Resort between 15th and 20th November.  Ultimately the top 25 and tied finishers will secure Category 15 European Tour cards via the Q-School series.

I have collated the scores of the GB&I Amateurs, some of the GB&I Pro’s and various Overseas Notables below.

There are 67 qualifying spots across the four venues – 17 at El Saler, Las Colinas, Lumine and 16 at Panoramica.

If you want to look at the detailed results for each venue simply click on the underlined Course Names and a link will take you to the European Tour’s live scoring page for that site.

Campo de Golf El Saler (6,449 yards, Par 72) – 29 GB&I players.

17 Qualifying Spots

  • T  1  James Ablett (ENG)  72, 69 (-3)
  • T  1  Simon Griffiths (ENG)  72, 69 (-3)
  • T  1  Garry Houston (WAL)  70, 71 (-3)
  • T11  Matthew Fitzpatrick (ENG)  72, 72 (Par)
  • T25  Ryan Evans (ENG)  76, 70 (+2)
  • T30  Elliott Saltman (SCO)  77, 70 (+3)
  • T30  Dominic Foos (GER)  74, 73 (+3)
  • T42  Joshua White (ENG)  75, 73 (+4)

Las Colinas Golf & Country Club (6,974 yards, Par 71) – 25 GB&I players.

17 Qualifying Spots

  • T  1  Sam Walker (ENG)  68, 63 (-11)
  • T  4  Jamie Elson (ENG)  65. 68 (-9)
  • T13  Geoffrey Drakeford* (AUS)  69, 67 (-6)
  • T17  Zane Scotland (ENG)  68, 69 (-5)
  • T21  Raymond Russell (SCO)  68, 70 (-4)
  • T27  Alexander Culverwell (AM) (SCO)  66, 73 (-3)
  • T34  Jordan Smith (ENG)  73, 67 (-2)
  • T42  Chris Robb (SCO)  69, 72 (-1)

Lumine Golf & Beach Club (Lakes) (6,909 yards, Par71) – 27 GB&I players.

17 Qualifying Spots

  • T  6  James Heath (ENG)  72, 65 (-5)
  • T  6  Paul Howard (AM) (ENG)  70, 67 (-5)
  • T11  Ashley Chesters (AM) (ENG)  72, 66 (-4)
  • T17  Neil Kearney (IRE)  70, 69 (-3)
  • T17  Nathan Kimsey (ENG)  72, 67 (-3)
  • T36  Neil Raymond (ENG)  72, 70 (Par)
  • T44  Luke Johnson (AM) (ENG)  75, 68 (+1)
  • T55  Garrick Porteous (ENG)  67, 77 (+2)
  • T55  Stiggy Hodgson (ENG)  73, 71 (+2)

Panoramica Golf & Sport Resort (7,030 yards, Par 72) – 29 GB&I players.

16 Qualifying Spots

  • T  2  Toby Tree (ENG)  66, 67 (-11)
  • T  6  Martin Sell (ENG)  68, 66 (-10)
  • T10  Renato Paratore (AM) (ITA)  70, 65 (-9)
  • T10  Matthew Southgate (ENG)  66, 69 (-10)
  • T19  Lauri Ruuska (AM) (FIN)  70, 67 (-7)
  • T26  Tom Murray (ENG)  65, 73 (-6)
  • T26  Zander Lombard (AM) (SA)  68, 70 (-6)
  • T38  Scott Borrowman (AM) (SCO)  68, 71 (-5)
  • T56  Mark Young* (ENG)  72, 71 (-1)
  • T63  Luke Joy (ENG)  75, 69 (Par)

* Turned Professional yesterday.

ME.

Copyright © 2014, Mark Eley. All rights reserved.

ET Second Stage Q-School 2014: Day 1

Posted on by

7th November 2014

European Tour QS

The Second Stage European Tour Qualifying School events started today in Spain.  The 191 players who negotiated the First Stage have now been joined by 102 new players who through their past endeavours were exempt from September’s eight pre-qualifying competitions.

The six-round Final Stage will take place at the PGA Catalunya Resort between 15th – 20th November.  The number of qualifying spots available to the Final Stage will be confirmed tomorrow afternoon once the Challenge Tour Grand Final in Dubai has been concluded and that Tour’s rankings are finalised.

I thought it may be useful to collate the scores of the GB&I Amateurs, some GB&I Selected Pro’s and various Other Notables from the four courses in one place: –

Campo de Golf El Saler – 29 GB&I players in total.

  • T  9  Matthew Fitzpatrick (ENG)  72 (Par)
  • T27  Dominic Foos (GER)  74 (+2)
  • T36  Joshua White (ENG)  75 (+3)
  • T43  Ryan Evans (ENG)  76 (+4)
  • T53  Elliott Saltman (SCO)  77 (+5)

Las Colinas Golf & Country Club – 25 GB&I players in total.

  • T  2  Jamie Elson (ENG)  65 (-6)
  • T  5  Alexander Culverwell (AM) (SCO)  66 (-5)
  • T16  Zane Scotland (ENG)  68 (-3)
  • T16  Raymond Russell (SCO)  68 (-3)
  • T22  Chris Robb (SCO)  69 (-2)
  • T22  Geoffrey Drakeford* (AUS)  69 (-2)
  • T54  Jordan Smith (ENG)  73 (+2)

Lumine Golf & Beach Club (Lakes Course) – 27 GB&I players in total.

  • T  3  Garrick Porteous (ENG)  67 (-4)
  • T15  Paul Howard (AM) (ENG)  70 (-1)
  • T36  Ashley Chesters (AM) (ENG)  72 (+1)
  • T36  Nathan Kimsey (ENG)  72 (+1)
  • T36  Neil Raymond (ENG)  72 (+1)
  • T50  David Higgins (IRE)  73 (+2)
  • T50  Stiggy Hodgson (ENG)  73 (+2)
  • T62  Luke Johnson (AM) (ENG)  75 (+4)

Panoramica Golf & Sport Resort – 29 GB&I players in total.

  • T  2  Tom Murray (ENG)  65 (-7)
  • T  4  Toby Tree (ENG)  66 (-6)
  • T18  Zander Lombard (AM) (SA)  68 (-4)
  • T18  Scott Borrowman (AM) (SCO)  68 (-4)
  • T35  Renato Paratore (AM) (ITA)  70 (-2)
  • T52  Mark Young* (ENG)  72 (Par)
  • T68  Luke Joy (ENG)  75 (+3)

* Turned Professional today.  

If you click on the underlined Venue Names it will take you to the European Tour’s live scoring page for that site where you can see all of the day’s scores.

ME.

Copyright © 2014, Mark Eley. All rights reserved.

An Introduction To US College Golf

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18th October 2014

Like most UK golfers I was aware of College golf in the United States (US).  I had heard TV commentators reference the stellar college records of Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods at various times.  I also knew that from our side of the pond Graeme MacDowell and Luke Donald had studied and played golf in the US and done very well.  As that was broadly the extent of my knowledge I thought I should try and find out a bit more.

Here are the 8 key points I discovered: –

1) There are about 1,300 colleges and universities across the US.  Not surprisingly each one is different in terms of student numbers, sports facilities, budgets and scholarship packages.  In Year 1 a student is a ‘Freshman’, Year 2 a ‘Sophomore’, Year 3 a ‘Junior’ and finally in Year 4 a ‘Senior’.

2) Non-profit Athletic Associations organise competitive men’s and women’s sport for the US colleges.  It is big business too.  The better men’s football and basketball teams play in front of huge crowds, matches are televised and these sports generate millions of dollars of revenue for their institutions.  All other sports, of which golf is one, whilst prestigious to differing degrees, are unprofitable to run for their colleges.  The primary Association is the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).  This body focuses on the larger colleges.  It has history too – the first men’s golf event being staged in 1897.  The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) performs a similar role for smaller colleges.  It has held a men’s golf championship since 1952.  The National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) completes the group, arranging sporting events for community and junior colleges.  It held its first men’s golf championship in 1959.

3) Each Athletic Association is split into Conferences based on geographic regions.  Colleges are then split into different Divisions – normally I, II and III.  Generally, the larger schools compete in Division I and smaller schools in II and III.  The NCAA, as it deals with the larger colleges with the most resources, is at the pinnacle of US college golf.  In turn the Division I colleges attract the best golfers as they offer the best coaches and practice facilities and compete in the elite competitions.  Division I of the NCAA is therefore the area that the interested observer should focus their attention on.

4) Only Division I and Division II schools can offer sports scholarships to athletes.  In Division I There are currently c.285 colleges offering men’s golf scholarships and c.255 offering financial support for women.  The NCAA allows 4.5 men’s and 6 women’s scholarship per college golf program.  A one week window exists in mid-November every year where National Letters of Intent (NLIs), essentially 12 month commitments for the following academic year, can be entered into by prospective students and institutions.   I believe there are currently c.100 GB&I golfers in the US College system.  Larger colleges run squads of between 7-12 players normally.  This can be problematic – particularly after the settling-in Freshman year – as most events are five person affairs, meaning some players struggle to get selected and therefore don’t get to play competitively.

5) The NCAA supports 31 regional Conferences for college’s that play men’s golf – 28 of them support women’s golf.  These are: – American Athletic; America Sky; Atlantic Coast; Atlantic Sun; Atlantic 10; Big East; Big South; Big Ten; Big 12; Big West, Colonial Athletic Association; Conference USA; Horizon League; Ivy League; Metro Atlantic Athletic, Mid-American; Mid-Eastern Athletic; Missouri Valley; Mountain West; Northeast; Ohio Valley; Pacific-12; Patriot League; Southeastern; Southern; Southland; Southwestern Athletic; Summit League; Sun Belt; Western Athletic; and West Coast.  The underlined ones have provided the better teams in recent years.

6) The Conferences and Divisions hold various regional competitions throughout the Fall and Spring seasons.  Five man teams compete for each college with additional team members playing individually sometimes.  From October onwards Golfstat publish Divisional rankings for the Teams and Individuals based on that season’s performances. These events are followed closely and act as a precursor to the NCAA finals series – Regionals followed by a National – which takes place every May.  Finals are held for each Division but the Division I event is clearly the US College Major.  The NCAA Division I Championship is given TV coverage by the Golf Channel in the USA.

7) The winners of each Conference are granted automatic entry to the Regional Championships.  The Golfstat rankings are then used by the NCAA Golf Committee to select the other teams and individuals that will participate.  In total 81 teams fight it out at six NCAA Division I Regional Championships held across the country.  The five teams with the lowest team scores at each of the Regional qualifiers progress for both the Team and Individual National championships.  The player not affiliated with one of the other teams in their Regional with the lowest score also progresses to play in the Individual event.

8) The NCAA Championship National Finals – the premier event in US College golf – is played annually at the end of May.  30 teams of five players plus six individual qualifiers take part, making a total field of 156 players.  Since 2015 the Women’s event has preceded the Men’s on the same course.  The men’s now consists of 54-holes of stroke play from Friday to Sunday before a cut is made.  Thereafter the top 15 teams and nine individuals not on an advancing team will play a final 18 holes on the Monday.  The results from these 72-holes will determine both the Individual Champion and the top eight teams that will advance to the Team match play stage.  The Team Champions, which is the primary focus of the NCAA, will then be finalised on the Tuesday and Wednesday.

 LSU NCAA DI Champions 2015

Louisiana State University – 2015 NCAA Division I Champions

Copyright © 2014-2017, Mark Eley. All rights reserved.