Benjamin Poke lost one stroke of his three-shot lead at the European Tour Qualifying School at Lumine GC, in Spain’s Tarragona. Picture by GETTY IMAGES

THE battle to earn European Tour playing privileges will go down to the wire with 22 players within three shots of the all-important 25th position.

Meanwhile Benjamin Poke posted a two-under par 69 retain the lead at the European Tour Qualifying School Final Stage after 90 holes over five days.

Poke said: “I’ve just tried to approach every round and every day in the same way and just hit one shot at a time.

“A few ups and downs out there but that is golf, and there is no day that is the same, so overall, I’m really happy with today’s performance.

“I was feeling the nerves a little bit at the start, but once I got it going it just felt like another day out on the golf course.

“I was just enjoying playing golf. I had some nice playing partners and we just talked along the way.

“Four back-to-back birdies is always nice to get your game going as well, and I managed to hole the putts over the opening few holes which gave me some good momentum.

“I hit my second shot on the ninth a little right and it managed to plug itself in the edge of the bunker.

“So I got a little bit unlucky there. But I thought ‘that’s just how it is sometimes’ and again I just tried to keep my eye on the next shot.

“The strategy tomorrow is just to keep doing all the same things we’ve been doing all week.

“We have a good game plan on how to approach the course and in that way circumstances don’t really change. So, if we do that, then we will make a good score and we take it as it comes.”

The Dane has set the pace at Lumine Golf Club since the second round and the 26-year-old will head into the final round atop the leaderboard on 18-under.

Poke is currently nine shots inside the cut-off for a European Tour card, with the top 25 and ties earning full playing status for 2020, following the conclusion of Wednesday’s sixth and final round.

Essex’s Dale Whitnell, whose breakthrough win on the Challenge Tour came in September’s KPMG Trophy, sits nervously in the crucial 25th place, alongside Northern Ireland’s Jonathan Caldwell.

Both will desperately want to be at least in that spot come tomorrow. afternoon, while Northumberland’s 2013 Amateur Champion Garrick Porteous is in 20th spot after a second successive 68, also faces an anxious last day.

Poke is two strokes ahead of Finland’s Sami Valimaki and three ahead of Frenchman Adrien Saddier and India’s SSP Chawrasia, who share third place on 15-under.

Valimaki said: “It’s been a really good five days for me, especially today I started really well going two-under on my first four holes, which let me breathe a little bit.

“It wasn’t great to bogey the last hole, but to shoot three-under is pretty good.

“Tomorrow, I just have to feel really comfortable and start again. I’ve been hitting the ball really well, so I’ll just have to keep letting the putter make the short ones and see where it leaves me at the end of the day.”

Spaniard Alejandro Cañizares, one of last year’s Qualifying School joint-winners, is one of six men who share fifth place on 14-under.

That group also includes three-time European Tour winner Grégory Havret, Yorkshire’s Marcus Armitage, Sussex’s Toby Tree, Canada’s Aaron Cockerill and Korean Jinho Choi.

Havret, who has won three times on the European Tour since turning pro in 1999, said: “You feel good when you play well, especially in this kind of week.

“It’s long, it’s physically and mentally not easy, but that’s what you have to deal with.

“After last year I still wanted to play golf and I had the opportunity to play the Challenge Tour and I think it’s a great Tour.

“I wanted to play a full year there and try to get back to the European Tour through the Challenge Tour, instead of playing a few European Tour events and a few Challenge Tour events.

“I thought it was good to stick on one Tour, and I really enjoyed it, I must say,” added Havret who beat Phil Mickelson in a play-off to win the 2007 Scottish Open, at Loch Lomond, and was runner-up in the 2010 US Open at Pebble Beach.

“To be tied fifth after five rounds of a professional golf tournament is pretty good, but there are still 18 holes to go and anything can happen,” said Havret.

“The important thing is that I keep focusing on the same things I have all season on the Challenge Tour and all week here at Q-School.”

Aaron Cockerill, who has had two top fives on the Challenge Tour this year, said: “It was a good finish with the eagle at the last.

“It’s funny, I shot one worse today than I did yesterday, but I feel so much better because yesterday I was six-under through 10, and kind of bled in.

“And today, I was four-under on the last five holes and it just feels so much better. Now I’m just looking forward to tomorrow,” said the 27-year-old who has been playing on the PGA Cananda Tour.

Somerset’s Laurie Canter is well placed in 12th place after an excellent 66 while Lincolnshire’s David Coupland, a graduate from the EuroPro Tour in 2018, is in 20th, on 10-under.

Fichardt jumps 50 places after superb 64

THE biggest mover of the day was five-time European Tour winner Darren Fichardt, who posted a sublime seven-under par 64 to move from the cut-line into a tie for 16th place.

Fichardt said: “I needed that, big time. The first few rounds have been very frustrating.

“I’ve been playing well and simply haven’t been making the putts, so it was nice to hit a few really close and have some tap-in birdies on the front nine – and then just close it out on my back nine.

“I just wanted to keep giving myself the chances this morning and hope that the putts kept dropping, so I did better than that.

“My front nine was really tricky, it was really windy so for me to turn in five under was unbelievable really.

“I was just trying to be more aggressive and pitch it closer to the hole – and I found myself hitting it in really close,” added Fichardt.

That leap up the leaderboard offers the South African a great opportunity to regain his playing privileges after finishing 130th this year in the Race to Dubai.

Forty-four-year-old Fichardt has five wins on the European Tour since 2001 – including the Joburg Open two years ago, but finished 130th on the Race to Dubai with his winner’s exemption ending this month.

While those near the top of the leaderboard will be looking to consolidate their position during the final round of the tournament, there are still plenty of players aiming for a last-minute breakthrough into the top 25.

Kent’s Steven Tiley and Spain’s Pedro Oriol both carded three-under par 68s to move into a tie for 33rd place, just one stroke outside the top 25, while Ireland’s Niall Kearney and Scotland’s Daniel Young each posted four-under par 67s to join the group on the cusp of the qualification spots.

The final round will begin at 8am UK time on Wednesday, when the top 25 players and ties after the close of play will earn life-changing European Tour cards for the 2020 season.

•For live scoring from the final round at Lumine, click here.

The post Battle to earn European Tour card will go right to the wire for top 25 at Spain’s Lumine appeared first on Golf North.

Benjamin Poke extended his lead to three shots at the European Tour Qualifying School at Lumine GC, in Spain’s Tarragona. Picture by GETTY IMAGES

BENJAMIN Poke remained in control on day four of the European Tour Qualifying School’s Final Stage as he increased his lead to three shots at Lumine Golf Club.

The Dane is in pole position with two rounds remaining after posting his fourth consecutive sub-70 round to reach 16-under par.

Meanwhile Poke’s closest challengers, Korea’s Jinho Choi, India’s SSP Chawrasia and Finland’s Sami Valimaki shared second place on 13-under.

The 27-year-old, who shot a four-under 67 on the Lakes Course on Monday, has led the six-round tournament since day two.

And following a bogey-free fourth round, which included two birdies in his final three holes, Poke will now look to earn a European Tour card for the first time in his career.

Poke said: “The conditions were a bit calmer but I still started off a bit slower, like I did yesterday.

“I just kept hitting fairways and greens but missed a few greens around five and six, and managed to scramble in nicely, which kept the momentum going a bit.

“I got a nice birdie on eight and from then on, I kept giving myself big chances and scrambled nicely when I needed to,” added Poke, who finished 29th on the Challenge Tour’s Road to Mallorca.

“It helps playing alongside guys who were also playing well. Toby (Tree) was three-under, I was four-under and Sami was six and it definitely helps because everybody’s playing well and going through good vibes.

“I’ve not given where I finish much thought, to be honest,” said Poke, who has been watching snooker on TV to relax in the evenings.

“Obviously, it’s a goal for everyone but I feel like I’ve got nothing to lose really. I’m just going do my best and see what happens.”

Choi charged up the leaderboard with the joint low round of the day on the Lakes – a seven-under 64, as he aims to regain his European Tour playing privileges, while 21-year-old Valimaki also pulled himself into contention with a six-under par 65.

Choi, who finished 181st on the Race to Dubai forcing last year’s Korean Tour money list winner to head to Qualifying School, said: “I enjoyed the round today. It was pretty solid.

“I putted really well, other than one three-putt, which was a missed short one, but overall it was a good day.”

“Coming into today I reminded myself that we’re only halfway through the tournament.

“So I told myself that I need to shoot some low scores this second half, and so that was all I really focused on – going low.

“I know I still need to shoot low numbers over the final two rounds as well if I want to get a European Tour card, so my mindset will still be to go low and keep playing solid golf.”

Chawrasia continued to safely navigate his way through the six-round marathon with a four-under par 67 on the Lakes.

The four-time European Tour winner was helped by an ace on the 186-yard fourth hole, one of two hole-in-ones recorded on the par three.

Frenchman Robin Sciot-Siegrist also holed his tee shot en route to a 67 of his own.

Armitage cashes in on conditions

A six-way chasing pack, which includes Germans Hurly Long, Nicolai von Dellingshausen and Marcel Schneider, Sussex’s Toby Tree and Yorkshire’s Marcus Armitage as well as Frenchman Adrien Saddier, all share fifth place on 12-under.

Thirty-two year-old Armitage, whose only Challange Tour win came in the 2016 Foshan Open, said: “I’m really pleased with today’s round.

“I thought it was going to be quite windy. But it turned out to be calm and presented a lot of opportunities – and I played really well,” said Armitage who is attached to Howley Hall GC.

“I’m just taking it like any event, you keep chasing and you are trying to win.

“Obviously, you want to be in the top 25 but you also want to win the tournament – and that is the goal at the start of the week, and we will keep going.”

Scotland’s Ewen Ferguson charged up the leaderboard with an eight-under par 64, which marked the low round of the tournament at the Hills Course.

It took the Scot from outside the cut line to tied 17^th, inside the number for a European Tour card.

Ferguson, who played in the 2015 Walker Cup before turning pro in 2016, said: “I played well today. I played well on the first couple of days as well.

“But it’s a long week and you just have to keep plugging away. I didn’t want a mistake to happen early on, so I think I played a little bit too defensive in the first couple of rounds.

“Today I just seemed to attack at a lot more pins – I just thought let’s just go for it,” added Ferguson, who is attached to Glasgow’s Bearsden GC.

“My dad’s out watching me this week and it’s quite nice to have someone you’re close to just watching you and willing you to do well with the odd wee fist pump when you hole a putt.

“I’m pretty tired after a long season on the Challenge Tour with China and Mallorca in the last few weeks,” said 23-year-old Ferguson, who won the Boys Amateur Championship, at Royal Birkdale, in 2013.

“I’ve felt quite a lot of pressure to try and get my card for quite a while now, so that’s why my dad’s come along to motivate me.

“I’m feeling pretty good – there’s two more days to go and I’ll just keep doing what I’m doing and see what happens at the end of it.”

The Final Stage cut line, which is limited to the top 70 players and ties after four rounds, fell at four-under, with 77 players making it through to the last two rounds.

Each player who bettered the 72-hole benchmark is guaranteed full status on the European Challenge Tour for 2020, with the top 25 players and ties earning European Tour cards after the sixth and final round

The attention now turns to the Lakes Course where the 77 remaining players will contest each of the two remaining rounds.

•For live scoring at Lumine, click here.

The post Poke remaining focused on earning European Tour card as Dane extends Lumine lead appeared first on Golf North.