The race for the 30 available European Tour cards on offer at the Final Stage of the Qualifying School is underway, with Sweden’s Anders Sjöstrand leading the 156 strong field after a brilliant opening round of six under par 66 over the San Roque Club’s New Course handed the 25 year old a two shot lead from his fellow countryman Alexander Noren and the Spanish Amateur Rafael Cabrera Bello.
Both Noren and Cabrera Bello posted their opening rounds of 68 over the New Course at San Roque, with Spain’s Ivo Giner and Frenchman Cédric Menut carding rounds of three under 69 at the same venue to join England’s Robert Rock and Jarmo Sandelin of Sweden in a tie for fourth place.
Rock and former European Ryder Cup player Sandelin were the best players over the Old Course at San Roque on a day of tough conditions on the southern coast of Spain. Indeed, only 25 players in the field were under par after the first round, an indication of how tough a test the six round Final Stage of the Qualifying School can be.
Sjöstrand, though, made things look easy over the New Course, especially over the front nine which he negotiated in four under par during the worst conditions of the day. The Swede then came home in 34 to post the early lead of six under par. Sjöstrand, who is making his third attempt to qualify for The European Tour through the Qualifying School began the long journey towards The Tour at Stage One in Italy last month, which he negotiated before coming through the Second Stage at Emporda Golf Club last week.
“It’s a great feeling to be in the lead,” said Sjöstrand. “This course is very difficult – the greens especially but I hit the ball very well today and managed to take a lot of the chances I made.
“I am just delighted to be in the lead because there are so many good players here. It’s good to be in front, but there is so much golf to be played over the next five days that you just don’t know what will happen. In saying that, I would rather have started with 66 than 76!”
While Sjöstrand is looking to make the breakthrough onto The Tour for the first time in his career, his fellow countryman, Sandelin is hoping to recapture the glory years that made him a five time European Tour champion as well as an integral part of the European Ryder Cup Team of 1999.
The 38 year old has, over the past 12 months, completely reconstructed his golf swing under the watchful eye his coach, Robert Baker, and is hoping that his new approach to the game will help him restore former glories.
“I have a totally new swing and set up to the game,” Sandelin confirmed. “For the first ten years of my career I just did my own thing, grabbed the club and swung it without thinking too much about it. Now I am more educated in the golf swing and I hope the new swing is going to help me win more tournaments than I did in the first ten years.”
