Former European Tour winner Jeff Hall stormed into contention after the first round of the European Seniors Tour Qualifying School in Portugal – and immediately paid tribute to the help given to him by renowned golfing coach Pete Cowen.
Hall – who pipped Bernard Gallacher and Sandy Lyle to the 1983 Jersey Open title – opened with a flawless three under par 68 on the Pinta Course at the Pestana Golf Resort to share second place with John Mashego of South Africa, the duo one shot adrift of England’s Bob Larratt.
The 50 year old’s only departures from par came with birdies at the third, where he holed from 35 feet, and on two par fives on the back nine – the tenth and 12th – and he credited the solidity of his play to the man who has helped many of The European Tour’s top stars including Thomas Björn, Colin Montgomerie, Henrik Stenson and Lee Westwood.
“I have known Pete Cowen for over 30 years but I have never asked him for any help or advice before,” said Hall. “Maybe that was foolish of me and so if this is a chance to thank him for helping me now then I’m going to take it because I’m delighted with my start here.
“I was at the Volvo Masters a few weeks back when I met up with Pete and he took a look at a few things in my game and gave me a few things to work on. I went away and tried them and worked hard on them and hopefully it is paying off.
“Any Qualifying School is hard and the thing you have to have is patience and I think that was the key for me today. I had a lot of chances apart from the ones I took and I think I left at least three or four putts right in the jaws of the hole, so it could have been a lot better.
“But you have to try and get the pace of the greens right here and downwind and down grain that is not always easy. It is easy, however, to have a go and rush it four or five feet past and then miss the one coming back to make bogey so, as I said, the watchword for the week is patience.”
Leader Larratt had only one dropped shot in his excellent opening four under par 67, at the short 15th where his tee shot found a greenside bunker, but aside from that the 54 year old was in fine form, notching five birdies including one from 40 feet at his final hole of the day, the 167 yard ninth.
“I hit a seven iron at the last and I couldn’t believe it went so far over the pin,” he said. “It was playing a bit downwind and perhaps there was a little bit of adrenalin in there too but I didn’t think it would go 40 feet past. However, it was great to knock the putt in and end my day like that.
“The key for me today was keeping out of trouble. Mike Inglis, one of my playing partners, said to me at the end that it is one of the most stress free rounds of golf he had ever witnessed. To be honest it sometimes didn’t feel that way but hopefully I can keep going like this and secure my card at the end of the week – that is the reason I’m here.”
Sharing second place with Hall, South African John Mashego got his quest for a card off to a blistering start with a birdie at his opening hole, the tenth, followed by an eagle three at the 12th to be three under par for the tournament after three holes. Two further birdies and two bogeys ensured that was where the 56 year old from Johannesburg ended.
At the end of the four round examination on Thursday, the top 14 players will secure their cards for the 2008 European Seniors Tour season.
Within that top 14 at the end of the first day’s play were the two players who topped the Stage One Qualifying Tournaments at Quinta de Cima and Pinheiros Altos respectively – American Chuck Milne, who opened with a level par 71, and Angel Franco of Paraguay, brother of four time US PGA Tour winner Carlos Franco, who opened with a one under par 70.
First Round Scores from the European Seniors Tour Qualifying School Finals at the Par 71 Pinta Course, Pestana Golf Resort, Portugal from November 19-22, 2007.
67 – B Larratt (Eng)
68 – J Hall (Eng), J Mashego (RSA)
70 – G Banister (Eng), A Franco (Par), D Hammett (USA)
71 – I Crowther (am) (Eng), J Hoskinson (Eng), C Milne (USA), B Smit (RSA), M Thomas (USA),
72 – P-A Brostedt (Swe), J Heggarty (Nir), M Johnson (USA), I Mosey (Eng), T Price (Wal), T Rastall (Eng), D Stirling (Eng),
73 – A Barrera (Arg), A Bownes (Eng), P Dahlberg (Swe), T Dill (USA), M Fernando (USA), J L Gallardo (Esp), M Galway (am) (Eng), R Green (Eng), F Guedra (Alg), B Hardwick (Can), M Kierstenson (Eng), J Lapsley (Nzl), R Mann (Eng), S Martin (Sco), R Masters (Eng), A Ortiz (Arg), A Saavedra (Arg), H Woodrome (USA)
74 – J Anglada (Esp), M Briggs (am)(Eng), B Evans (Eng), T Gideon (Ger), B McColl (Sco), P O’Boyle (Ire), J-P Sallat (Fra), G Sharp (USA), R Stelten (USA)
75 – P Andersson (Swe), J Benda (USA), M Edmunds (Wal), P Henrik (Can), A Johnsson (Swe), D Narveson (USA), B Storman (USA),
76 – T Carter (am) (Eng), T Claassens (RSA), J Davila (Esp), G Green (USA), G Gunn (Can), A McLure (am) (Eng), D Morris (am) (Ire), S Stull (USA), D Williamson (Sco),
77 – M Gallagher (Eng), C Hurst (am), (Ire), G Krause (Eng), M Miller (Sco),
78 – E Enrique (Ita), TR Jones (USA), L Lozano (Esp), G Wintz (USA), D Young (Eng)
79 – T Brown (USA), S Graham (Eng), O Moore (Aus), B Todd (Nir)
80 – N Clarke (RSA), M Gammell (USA)
81 – F Abreu (Esp), M Inglis (Eng)
Scott Crockett
Chief Press Officer
The European Tour
Tel: +44 (0) 1344 840447
Fax: +44 (0) 1344 840444
Email: scrockett@europeantour.com
