England’s Bob Larratt came top of the class at the European Seniors Tour Qualifying School Finals to head 17 graduates to the 2008 Seniors Tour.

The 54 year old will join the likes of Carl Mason, Sam Torrance and Ian Woosnam on next year’s Seniors Tour after finishing two strokes clear of countryman John Hoskison at the Pestana Golf Resort on the Algarve in Portugal on three under par 281.

Another English duo – Jeff Hall and Ian Mosey – as well as Northern Ireland’s Ian Mosey shared third place on level par.

Larratt produced a final round of one under par 70 on the Pinta Course to record his three under winning total.

“I’m delighted after a very long week,” said Larratt, who collected the top prize of €4,892 (£3,500). “I have qualified twice for the Seniors Tour via the Qualifying School but to win it is pretty special. The other two times I qualified I finished eighth but winning will give me a full playing schedule next year which is great.

“I can look forward to 2008 now and I feel I’ll be better prepared to make an impression. I have been on tour for five years and learned so much from playing with these great players.

“When you play with the likes of Torrance you can learn so much. My biggest improvement has come in my ability to keep a score going even when I am not playing at my best.”

The qualifying mark for cards fell at five over par 289 as the Seniors Qualifying School, like its European Tour equivalent just two days previously, threw up tales of joy and dread during the final round.

While English amateur players, Matt Briggs and Martin Galway, celebrated finishing in seventh and tied 14th places respectively, Sweden’s Per-Arne Brostedt was lamenting a hugely disappointing final round of 78 that saw him fall out of the running at the final hurdle.

Brostedt had began the final round in sixth place, but his seven over par fourth round effort saw him miss out on qualification by one agonising stroke.

Galway, meanwhile, held his nerve superbly under intense pressure to produce a level par 71 and join Americans Chuck Milne and Mitch Thomas, as well as South Africa’s John Mashego, as the least men to win a card on five over.

Briggs’s last round 69 was an even more commendable effort as he moved from 16th place at the beginning of the final round to take the seventh card.