European Tour Q-School: Five 2014 graduates who have impressed
Wednesday 11 November 2015 13:55, UK
As the final stage of the European Tour's Qualifying School gets underway at PGA Catalunya Resort on Saturday, we look back at how the pick of last year's graduates fared at a higher level.
Matt Fitzpatrick
The Sheffield star has been one of the standout performers on the European Tour this season, with consistency well beyond his years helping him to more top-10 finishes than any other player on the Tour in 2015.
Although the 21-year-old was initially unable to follow up a top-five showing at the early-season South African Open Championship with any further success, Fitzpatrick has since put together a series of displays that has seen him tipped by many as a potential Ryder Cup player for next autumn.
Having impressed in Ireland and the Lyoness Open as well as suffering near-misses in the Czech Republic and Italy, Fitzpatrick parachuted up the Race to Dubai rankings by securing silverware on home soil with a maiden career victory at the British Masters.
The Englishman's run shows no sign of stopping as we reach the business end of the campaign, with further top-10s in Hong Kong and Shanghai moving him to the brink of the world's top 50.
Anirban Lahiri
Two early-season triumphs set Lahiri on his way to a memorable breakthrough season on the European Tour, with the Indian Open champion now also looking to show off his talents on the PGA Tour.
Victory on home soil followed a win at the Malaysian Open just a fortnight earlier, pushing Lahiri inside the world's top 50 and securing qualification to all four majors for the first time.
A top-five finish at the PGA Championship was one of three top-10s during a hectic second half of the year for Lahiri, as he was balancing his European Tour and Asian Tour commitments with playing on the Web.com Tour to earn a PGA Tour playing card.
Rikard Karlberg
A string of top-20 finishes during an impressive spell during the middle of the season meant Karlberg was all but safe for next season, even before he claimed the Open D'Italia title.
The play-off win over Martin Kaymer moved the Swede up more than 100 places in the world rankings, before Karlberg reached a career-high 121st a week later with a tied-fifth finish at the Porsche European Open.
Karlberg has been an Asian Tour regular for several seasons before securing full playing rights last season, and a top-60 finish this time around means he will be back for more in 2016.
Edoardo De La Riva
Three top-eight finishes in his final five regular-season events meant the Spaniard didn't have to return to Q-School for a second year running.
Finishing the Africa Open in a tie for third and posting another top 10 on home soil at the Open de Espana got De La Riva off to a steady start, but four consecutive missed cuts left him in a precarious position to reach the top 110.
A positive week at the Czech Masters and a tied runner-up finish at the KLM Open helped the 33-year-old make a significant leap up the standings, before a tied-third ending at the Portugal Masters secured his future.
Pelle Edberg
The Swede has had a solid rookie season after graduating from the Challenge Tour, finishing in the top 10 four times including a runner-up display at the Czech Masters.
Edberg briefly dropped back out of the world's top 500 after a run of six missed cuts in seven starts midway through the season, but bounced back to end the European Masters in fourth spot.
At one stage, it looked as if Edberg would join the four names already mentioned in competing at the season-ending finale in Dubai, but closing the regular campaign with three early exits means he left himself too much to do.
Best of the rest…
Andrew Dodt completed the list of rookie season winners, taking the True Thailand Classic title ahead of Scott Hend, while Joakim Lagergren also comfortably retained his playing rights with a tied-fourth finish at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship being his third top 10 of the season.
Finland's Mikko Korhonen and England's John Parry retained their playing rights for 2016 by finishing in the top 110 on the Race to Dubai standings, as did Matt Ford with a tied-seventh showing at the regular season-ending Hong Kong Open.
Several of last year's graduates hovered around the bubble over the closing stretch of the season, with Chris Paisley and Italian teenager Renato Paratore holding on to their cards. There was no such joy for Andrew Scrivener, who narrowly missed despite finishing tied-third in Hong Kong.
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Q School: Journey to the Top
