Connor Syme is just 18 holes away from his European Tour dream while fellow Scot Robert MacIntyre is poised to join him with just one round to go at the European Tour’s Qualifying School final in Spain.
The 22-year-old from Drumoig moved up three places into a tie for third with a four-under 67 on the Blue Course at Lumine Golf Club near Tarragona. The top 25 after tomorrow’s sixth and final round will gain European Tour cards for the 2018 season.
MacIntyre, the 21-year-old left hander from the Glencruitten club in Oban, eagled the last for a five-under 66 which pitched him inside the the top 25 in a tie for 16th place.
Both the young Scots have only been professional for a little over two months, having been team-mates for Great Britain and Ireland in the Walker Cup in Los Angeles as their last gasp as amateurs in September.
Both have already made a stir in the pro ranks, Syme with three cuts made and two top 15 finishes on invitations to the European Tour, while MacIntyre won on his second time out as a pro on the MENA Tour.
Yesterday Syme dropped a shot for the first time in three days, but is a remarkable 17-under for the last three rounds just when he needed a charge.
“It has been a great last three rounds,” he said. “I didn’t quite play as well as I had over the last couple of days but that is what you have to expect at a six-round event.
“It’s the first time that I have had a scorecard in my hands for five days in a row but I am delighted with the position I am in and hopefully I can continue playing well.
“It is so difficult as there are so many good players this week and all you can control is yourself. I played really well at Second Stage last week so I felt confident coming here.
“It is not in my hands though and I can’t control how anyone else plays. I need to keep doing what I am doing and that will be hopefully be enough.”
Though well positioned going into the final 18, Connor is taking nothing for granted.
“It is going to be a very different experience,” he said. “This year I have had a lot of good experiences, playing in The Open and making a few appearances on the European Tour, but I think tomorrow is going to be a very different.
“If you get too much into a situation where you are overthinking everything then that can affect your game, so you just need to keep a clear head as that is when you play your best golf.”
MacIntyre jumped 18 places on the day, rolling in an 18-foot putt for eagle on the long final hole to set himself up for a charge at a card in today’s final round.
His 66 left him on 11-under, four behind Syme but only one shot ahead of a group in 26th place, just out of the card race.
Another Scot, Aberdeen’s former double Scottish Amateur champion David Law, is now two shots off the required pace going into the final round – exactly the same margin he agonisingly missed by two years ago.
Law shot a two-under 69 but it saw him drop back six places as others, including multiple Tour winners Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano and Anders Hansen, made big charges.
