Hoey shows mettle

Golf Tour School: Michael Hoey demonstrated his mettle and a rejuvenated golf game to emerge from PQ2 with a coveted place at the European Tour's final qualifying school where he will join fellow Irishmen David Higgins and Damien McGrane.

The Ulster professional produced scintillating golf over the weekend, shooting rounds of 68 and 67 - 13 under for those 36 holes - to finish sixth at the Golf de Saint Cyprien course near Perpignan in southern France.

Higgins was no less impressive at the Perelada GC in northern Spain, recovering from a 71, 76 start to streak through the field over the weekend with rounds of 68 and a closing day 65.

It earned him a tie for 25th place along with eight others, right on the bubble, as there were 33 places on offer at Perelada.

Hoey had opened with rounds of 71 and 74 but his weekend performance comfortably hauled him into one of the 29 places on offer in France.

Elsewhere, the news was less edifying for the Irish contingent, including the five other representatives playing the 7,000-yards- plus par 73 St Cyprien.

Damian Mooney came very close, finishing tied 31st (71, 74, 71, 72). He has the consolation of being the fourth alternate for the Tour school and could yet make it.

Richie Coughlan, looking to earn cards on both the US and European Tours, is still chasing that dream in the States but his European aspirations foundered.

Having opened with rounds of 75 and 76, he recaptured his form to close with a pair of 69s, to finish tied 37th.

Walker Cup star Noel Fox and Stephen Browne were a couple of shots further adrift on 291, Fox struggling over the closing 36 holes (70, 73, 74, 74), while Browne made inroads (75, 75, 71, 70) during the same period but not enough.

Ciarán McMonagle (75, 74, 71, 72) finished in a tie for 53rd. Ireland's sole representative at TorrMirona, Chris Devlin, was tied 44th (71, 71, 71, 73).

There was little joy, either, for the two Irish players in the women's European Tour qualifying school at Aroeira GC near Lisbon in Portugal. Yvonne Cassidy (80, 74, 77) and Hazel Kavanagh (81, 80, 78) both missed the third round cut, which was set at 13 over par 229.

German amateur Bettina Hauert carded a one over par 73 for five under 211 to remain in the lead by three shots from promising French amateur Sophie Giquel who fired the joint best of the day 69.