Willett heads tour card race

Yorkshire rookie shoots 70 for one-stroke lead

By Simon Dilger   Last updated: 16th November 2008   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Willett heads tour card race

Willet: Leader

European Tour Q-School Final Stage
Fourth round leaders
GB&Ire unless stated
-16 D Willett
-15 O Henningsson (Swe)
-14 A Nilsson (Swe)
-13 E Tage Johansen (Nor)
-13 B Wiesberger (Aut)

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Danny Willett has moved into top spot heading into the closing 36 holes of the European Tour's qualifying school in Spain.

The Yorkshire rookie finally overhauled long-time leader Oskar Henningsson to take a one-stroke lead in the race for the 30 tour cards up for grabs.

Willett, who powered up the leaderboard with a 63 during Saturday's third round, posted 70 on Sunday for a 16-under-par total of 270.

After a double bogey at the 10th, the former world amateur number one bounced back with a birdie at the last to inch ahead of the Swede, who shot 74.

"It was an up and down one today and the four-putt was not what I wanted," he said.

"But I managed to get my head back on and played really well over the last eight holes.

Dazzling

"The target is obviously to finish as high as possible because you want to give yourself as many opportunities to get into tournaments as you can.

"In the nicest possible way, it would be good to win here and then never come back again."

Meanwhile, a dazzling nine-under-par 63 saw Scotland's Chris Doak leap 84 places from 107th to 23rd.

Doak, who won last month's PGA play-offs at Royal Liverpool, has already clinched starts in some of the most lucrative events on the 2009 European circuit as a result.

But the 30-year-old from Greenock has his eyes firmly set on a full card.

"I knew I needed to do something just to make the cut," he said. "So in the circumstances this has to be the best round of my career."

Former Ryder Cup player Peter Baker leaked four shots in his last five holes to drop out of the all-important top 70 by three shots.

And Sweden's Fredrik Andersson endured an even more calamitous end to his round, dropping seven shots over his last five holes to finish one shot shy of the mark.

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