Oliver Wilson makes confident start to Final Stage of Q-School
Saturday 11 November 2017 18:26, UK
Oliver Wilson's bid to regain his European Tour card got off to an encouraging start in the opening round of the Final Stage of Qualifying School in Spain.
Wilson fired a confident five-under 67 in blustery conditions to lie two shots behind early leader Gary Stal after the first day of the gruelling six-round tournament at the Lumine Golf Club in Tarragona, where 156 players are competing for 25 cards for next season.
The 2008 Ryder Cup star had endured a tough 2017 campaign and made the cut only eight times in 18 combined starts over the European Tour and Challenge Tour and banked less than 20,000euros in prize money.
But the 37-year-old, who held off Rory McIlroy and current Race to Dubai leader Tommy Fleetwood to win his maiden European Tour title at the 2014 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, put himself on course to regain his playing privileges with an excellent performance on the Hills Course.
Wilson birdied two of the first three holes before giving a shot back at the sixth, and he hit a rich vein of form after the turn as he made three consecutive birdies from the 10th.
The Englishman picked up one further gain at 16 and parred the last two to claim a share of third place as Stal took the overnight lead with a flawless seven-under 64 on the shorter Lakes Course.
Stal has struggled for form since stunning the likes of McIlroy and Martin Kaymer at the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship in January 2015, and he finished a lowly 144th on this season's Race to Dubai and failed to post a top-10 finish.
But the Frenchman was the star of the first day after a cautious start with six pars, a run he broke with a birdie at 16 before he chipped in to record the only eagle of the round at the long 18th.
Stal followed another birdie at the second with three in four holes from the fifth, but he was not getting ahead of himself with 90 holes remaining.
"I am very happy with my start, but it is a very long tournament," he said. "But my game is good and we will see what happens. I drove the ball really well, I was very accurate with my long-irons and I managed to hole a few putts so all in all it was a great opening day."
English veteran Mark Foster birdied his last two holes at the Lakes Course to card a four-under 67, while two-time European Tour winner Steve Webster is one further behind after a 68 at the Hills Course.
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Former BMW PGA champions Simon Khan and Andrew Hansen are on level par along with the likes of Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano, a seven-time winner on the European Tour who has fellow Spaniard Alvaro Quiros as his caddie for the week.
But it was a tough day for Simon Dyson, who failed to make a single birdie as he stumbled to a six-over 77 which left him languishing in a share of 146th place.
