After the success of Anirban Lahiri and Andrew Dodt over the past fortnight, europeantour.com takes a look at how the Qualifying School Final Stage class of 2014 is performing on The Race to Dubai so far this season.
Just two weeks ago, Lahiri was heading home a European Tour winner after closing with a round of 68 in Kuala Lumpar to claim the Maybank Malaysian Open, just three month’s removed from taking the 17th card on offer at PGA Catalunya Resort in north-eastern Spain.
His one stroke victory over Austria’s Bernd Wiesberger a fortnight ago not only saw the Bangalore native climb into the top 50 on the Official World Golf Ranking, it also saw him jump into the top ten in The Race to Dubai, as he prepares to tee it up at the Hero Indian Open this week.
Following on from Lahiri this past weekend was Dodt, who closed with three rounds of 67 in Hua Hin to win his second top tier title at the True Thailand Classic presented by Black Mountain, a triumph that sees the Australian climb to 13th on The Race to Dubai thanks to his first victory in five years.
These consecutive victories reflect a strong start to 2015 for those 28 players who earned their European Tour tickets in Girona, with six others alongside the aforementioned Dodt and Lahiri currently set to retain their cards as part of the top 110.
Italian teenager Renato Paratore is the best of the rest so far at 60th on the list, and set to earn the final DP World Tour Championship, Dubai berth as it stands, having finished third at Q-School.
Englishman John Parry is currently one place inside the top 100, while compatriots Paul Maddy and Matthew Fitzpatrick are 104th and 107th, respectively. Italy’s Alessandro Tadini also claimed the 25th card last November and is 102nd on The Race to Dubai at the moment, some four spots ahead of Spaniard Pedro Oriol.
With eight players currently set to retain their European Tour card, albeit in the early stages of their campaign, they are looking good to improve on the impressive season of their forebears. Last year four players from the previous school earned tournament victories – namely Daniel Brooks, Marco Crespi, Mikael Lundberg and Fabrizio Zanotti – while a further five retained their cards.
Australia’s Wade Ormsby (51), Belgian Thomas Pieters (83), Englishman James Morrison (88) and Dane Lucas Bjerregaard (90) all did enough to stay on the top tier.
Gary Stal was also a member of the class of 2013, and while he too retained his card at 89th on The Race to Dubai last year, the best was very much yet to come for the Frenchman, as proven by his Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship victory last month.
Having held off the likes of Martin Kaymer and Rory McIlroy, Stal is currently sixth on The Race to Dubai, and proof of what can be achieved just a year or so on from successfully traversing the six-round marathon that is The European Tour Qualifying School.
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