By Tony Webeck

Seven Australians will tee it up at Final Stage of the DP World Tour Qualifying School after four advanced across the four Second Stage venues in Spain.

Nineteen Aussies were seeking one of the 93 spots available from Second Stage that would earn them the opportunity to contest the six-round torture test starting Friday at the Lakes Course at Infinitum in Spain.

Led by amateur Hayden Hopewell’s tie for fourth at Desert Springs Golf Club, Jarryd Felton, Kyle Michel and Jordan Zunic kept alive their hopes of a DP World Tour card in 2023. They will join Dimi Papadatos, Aaron Pike and Louis Dobbelaar who received direct entry to Final Stage by virtue of their finish on the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit.

Hopewell already has status on the Australasian Tour by virtue of his Future Tour performance last season and will undoubtedly move into the professional ranks if he can secure his immediate playing career in Europe later this week.

Fellow West Australian Jarryd Felton finished tied for eighth at Emporda to book his spot at Final Stage, Kyle Michel and Jordan Zunic advancing from Las Colinas Golf and Country Club after finishing tied for 10th and tied 23rd respectively.

It was heartbreak for Daniel Gale at Emporda, the Sydneysider missing the playoff for the final spot by just one stroke following a brilliant eight-under 63 in the final round. There remains a faint glimmer of hope for Gale who is listed as fifth alternate for the 156-player Final Stage field.

Kiwi Daniel Hillier secured his promotion to the DP World Tour main stage in 2023 by ending the Challenge Tour seventh on the moneylist with a tie for 23rd at the Challenge Tour Grand Final.

In third place leading into the final round, a closing 78 saw Scott Hend fall to a share of 14th at the Asian Tour’s International Series Morocco, level with fellow Australian Todd Sinnott.

Brad Kennedy’s tie for 11th was the best of the Aussies at the Mynavi ABC Championship in Japan, Rod Pampling finished tied for eighth at the Champions Tour’s TimberTech Championship and Jason Day’s tie for 21st led the way at the PGA TOUR’s Mayakoba Championship.

Results

PGA TOUR WWT Championship at Mayakoba El Camaleon Golf Course at Mayakoba, Riviera Maya, Mexico 1            Russell Henley   63-63-65-70—261           $US1.476m T21        Jason Day           73-64-67-66—270           $82,683 T64        Danny Lee          71-67-72-71—281           $17,712 MC        Aaron Baddeley 71-68—139 MC        Harrison Endycott           75-71—146

Japan Golf Tour Mynavi ABC Championship ABC Golf Club, Hyogo 1            Mikumu Horikawa          69-71-64-67—271           ¥24m T11        Brad Kennedy    69-71-70-68—278           ¥2.448m T24        Brendan Jones  68-69-69-74—280           ¥1.056m T28        Andrew Evans   72-70-71-68—281           ¥822,000 T54        Anthony Quayle              69-70-71-78—288           ¥295,200 MC        Michael Hendry (NZ)      75-71—146

LPGA Tour Toto Japan Classic Seta Golf Course, Shiga, Japan 1            Gemma Dryburgh           71-67-65-65—268           $US300,000 T36        Minjee Lee         72-69-73-70—284           $10,668 T64        Stephanie Kyriacou         72-71-74-72—289           $4,254

Asian Tour International Series Morocco Royal Golf Dar Es Salam, Morocco 1         Jazz Janewattananond   71-70-72-67—280           $US270,000 T14        Todd Sinnott      70-72-73-75—290           $19,875 T14        Scott Hend         71-69-72-78—290           $19,875 T19        Sam Brazel         74-74-71-72—291           $16,575 T28        Kevin Yuan         70-76-72-75—293           $12,600 T37        Travis Smyth      77-69-74-75—295           $9,900 T58        Brett Rumford   76-73-71-79—299           $4,950 61          Wade Ormsby   73-75-75-77—300           $4,650 MC        Jake Higginbottom          79-72—151 MC        Cory Crawford  74-79—153 MC        Daniel Fox          74-83—157

DP World Tour Q School Second Stage Isla Canela Links, Huelva, Spain T1          Pieter Moolman (Q)       63-73-63-63—262           €1,922.07 T1          ​Joel Sjoholm (Q)              67-65-66-64—262           €1,922.07 T28        Elvis Smylie        71-70-69-65—275 T34        Nathan Barbieri 74-65-66-71—276 T63        Linus Yip             67-74-68-77—286

Emporda Golf, Girona, Spain T1          Jens Fahrbring (Q)           70-67-65-65—267           €1,922.07 T1          Tom Murray (Q)              67-67-67-66—267           €1,922.07 T8          Jarryd Felton (Q)             64-70-73-66—273 T25        Daniel Gale        73-68-76-63—280 T33        John Lyras          73-69-71-69—282 T56        James Marchesani          74-74-71-70—289 63          Tom Power Horan          75-74-69-74—292 T65        Blake Collyer     73-69-79-73—294

Desert Springs Golf Club, Almeria, Spain 1            Philipp Katich (Q)            66-67-68-66—267           €2,295.01 T4          Hayden Hopewell (Q)     65-71-73-67—276 T28        Braden Becker   70-71-73-68—282 T37        Jack Thompson 71-69-75-69—284 T39        Deyen Lawson   74-67-69-75—285 T61        Lachlan Barker  74-80-69-72—295

Las Colinas Golf & Country Club, Alicante, Spain 1            Ivan Cantero Gutierrez (Q)          67-71-64-68—270           €2,295.01 T10        Kyle Michel (Q) 67-68-71-71—277 T23        Jordan Zunic (Q)              69-68-74-70—281 T36        Connor McKinney (a)     72-68-79-66—285 T52        Austin Bautista  76-68-71-75—290 T60        Jay Mackenzie   75-75-76-70—296

Challenge Tour Rolex Challenge Tour Grand Final Club de Golf Alcanada, Port d’Alcúdia, Mallorca, Spain 1            Nathan Kimsey  70-73-66-70—279           €87,000 T23        Daniel Hillier (NZ)            74-71-71-73—289           €5,165

Champions Tour TimberTech Championship The Royal Palm Yacht and Country Club, Boca Raton, Florida 1            Bernhard Langer             70-63-66—199  $US350,000 T6          Steven Alker (NZ)            70-68-71—209  $84,010 T8          Rod Pampling    68-69-74—211  $58,080 T41        Mark Hensby     74-74-73—221  $10,120 T47        Stuart Appleby  76-75-72—223  $7,920