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Final Qualifying Stage The San Roque Club: Rodiles and Rocha share the glory at San Roque

Final Qualifying Stage The San Roque Club

/noticias.info/ Carlos Rodiles of Spain and Brazil’s Alexandre Rocha each had good reason to celebrate at the San Roque Club in Cadiz when they emerged joint winners of The 2006 European Tour Qualifying School – Final Stage.

Rodiles will claim the Number One card in the official rankings thanks to a better last round on the New Course – 69 to Rocha’s 71 for a matching 15 under par total of 417 – but their joy was equal in the gathering gloom on the Costa del Sol as they were presented with the trophy by Qualifying School Director Mike Stewart.

David Drysdale of Scotland regained his playing privileges by taking the third card while Sweden’s Fredrik Andersson Hed finished fourth. Completing the top five was English amateur Oli Fisher who became the third youngest player, at 18 years and 64 days, to come through The European Tour Qualifying School – Final Stage, the youngest being Magnus Persson Atlevi at age 17 years and 116 days in 1982, while the second youngest was Nicolas Colsaerts in 2000.

Fisher carded a final round 71 for a seven under par total of 425, a round made all the more impressive by the fact it was played on the day of his grandfather’s funeral back in England. Understandably, at the end of his round, the teenager departed quickly to catch a flight home to be with his family.

Meanwhile, at the head of affairs, and having started the day two shots behind Rocha, Rodiles narrowed the gap to one by the turn before all players were called off the course as torrential rain made the New Course unplayable.

There were genuine fears that the tournament – which had already been extended to eight days to accommodate the six rounds because of similar bad weather in the area last week – might have to go into Friday. But after a delay of one hour and 40 minutes, play resumed at 3.30pm local time, giving just enough time for the last group to finish before darkness fell.

The gap between the leading two players was still one shot with five holes to go before Rocha missed the green at the demanding 455 yard 14th to make bogey five. It drew the main protagonists level and four respective pars to finish saw them end that way.

“I am very proud to have come out on top,” said Rodiles. “There were 156 great players here this week and to win the tournament from a field of that quality is a very great achievement. I have finished second three times on The European Tour and hopefully, now I have my card back, I can go one better somewhere next season.”

Rocha won his card at the Qualifying School last year but too many missed cuts in his tournament outings necessitated a return. But the Brazilian admitted he was very much looking forward to returning.

“Last year I was the happiest man on the planet when I won my card but this year it is different, I would say I am more relieved than anything else,” he said. “The reason I say that is because I know how great it is out there on The European Tour and I didn’t want to miss out on the chance to go back.

“I have really come to love Europe and The European Tour. There are a lot of great characters out there on Tour and I know I can learn from them. I will face them all again next year and hopefully I can compete better against them than I did this year.”

Third placed Drysdale who carded a 71 for ten under par total of 422, was understandably delighted to regain his playing privileges after the trauma of the last two seasons when he finished one place outside of those who have kept their playing privileges by right – missing out by a mere €586 in 2005 and by €1,139 this year.

“It was a tough day out there with conditions the way they were and it has been a long week all in all with one thing and another but obviously I am overjoyed to have gotten my card back and I am really looking forward now to next season.”

When the dust had settled, 35 players earned their cards for The 2007 European Tour International Schedule, level par 432 being the mark required to attain.

Included in that number were five former European Tour winners – Sven Strüver who took card six, Patrik Sjöland (seven), Warren Bennett (11), Santiago Luna (13) and Alex Cejka (18) – and four time US PGA Tour winner and a member of the 2000 US Presidents Cup team, Notah Begay III, who took card number eight. notas_de_prensa_archivo