Play during round five of the Final Stage of The 2005 European Tour Qualifying School has been abandoned after a day of persistent rainfall and intermittent thunder storms over the south coast of Spain at the San Roque Club.
With most of the 84 players who survived the fourth round cut still to play around nine holes of their fifth rounds, the fifth round will be completed over San Roque’s New Course on Tuesday morning before the players complete the race for the 30 available 2006 European Tour cards over the New Course.
In an attempt to ensure The Final Stage finishes on schedule, the players will remain in fifth round draw order for the last 18 holes, which has been scheduled to start at 10:00am local time.
The English trio of David Griffiths, Robert Rock and Tom Whitehouse share the lead on nine under par, with another Englishman, David Dixon in fourth place, six shots behind the leaders.
Mike Stewart, Director of the European Tour Qualifying School, said: “Play was abandoned for the fifth round because we have had persistent rain and a lot of storm activity in the area throughout the day. The immediate forecast was for heavy rain to continue to fall until at least five o’clock local time, so there was no chance of any further play today due to the worsening condition of the golf course.
“The aim for tomorrow, at the moment, is to have everyone out on the golf course and in a position to restart at 08:30 in the morning. Rather than having a new draw for the final day which is standard practice, we are going to keep the players in fifth round draw order which, weather permitting, should allow us to finish the Final Stage of the Qualifying School tomorrow evening. The first match of the sixth round is scheduled to tee off at 10:00 tomorrow morning.
“There is really nothing else that can be done about the situation as it is. We all know that when you are dealing with weather conditions like the ones we have experienced today, you cannot do anything about it. The players fully understand the situation, and we are all now hoping that the poor weather improves and that we can complete what is a vitally important week for everyone involved in the Qualifying School on schedule tomorrow evening.”
