Scotland’s David Drysdale quickly boosted hopes of regaining his 2023 DP Tour card with an impressive display on day one of the second stage of qualifying in Spain.
Drysdale is among a dozen Scots teeing-up at four venues and with the leading finishers to move onto next week’s brutal six-round final qualifier at Tarragona where the top-25 earn full main Tour status.
The Borders golfer posted a flawless five-under 67 and capped by an eagle ‘3’ after chipping-in at the par-5 13th on the Desert Springs course to the north-east of Malaga.
Drysdale, 47, is tied in eighth place with Kirkhill’s Craig Ross who grabbed eight birdies in his 67, and with the pair only two shots from the front. The leading 23 finishers at Desert Springs will move onto to Tarragona.
Drysdale said: “It’s a decent start and with the round very much a continuation of my good work last week in Portugal.
“The golf course is a funky-like golf course. You don’t get to use the driver that much so there is a lot of iron-play. Though it was nice to get a good drive away down 13 and then hole my third shot for eagle, from about 15-yards out, so that helped the scoring.
“As I was saying last week, it’s not the position I wanted to be in this week but then it was a season-best finish in sharing eighth place, so that was a great lift in confidence given the disappointments we’ve had this year.
“So, I’ve now given myself a good springboard into the second round but then I see from the scoring at the four courses, it’s been a day of low scoring.
“Also, I’m keeping low-key off the course to help stay fresh and see what the rest of the week brings, so it’s a good, positive start and happy with that.”
‘Double Ds’ strong start is a mirror of last week’s impressive season-best finish of T8th after four rounds in the 60s in Portugal and no doubt helped by a Tweet posted by his wife/caddy and manager, Vicky.
She said: “Proud of my hubby the way he played @Portugal Masters. Thank you all who supported us this season. It hasn’t been the best year. However 574 tournaments @DPWorldTour – you ain’t seen the last of #TeamDD just yet.
Dumfries Liam Johnston kick-started his round, and also at Desert Springs, with a hat-trick of birdies in posting a four-under par 68.
Best of the other nine Scots are Greg Daziel and Jack MacDonald signing for three-under 67s at Isla Canela Links in Huelva.
And while nine Scots are in action in Spain, Euan Walker muscled his way to a share of the lead at the Challenge Tour Grand Final in Mallorca.
The Dundonald Links golfer is a lone Scot competing on the stunning host Club de Golf Alcanada, and posting an impressive four-under 68 to share the lead with Spaniard Xavier Sainz.
It was a slow start for the 27-year-old Walker to be level par through nine holes but he
Walker, and winner of last months British Challenge, teed-up ranked 21st on the Road to Mallorca money-list and with the leading 25 among 45 starters also to earn full 2023 DP Tour World membership, and with the young already projected to now finished ninth.
He said: “I’m really pleased with that today and I played as well as I could hope for, as I hit the ball really nicely and had a few breaks go my way, and I cannot be happier than that
“The big key was that I was in position all the way around the course off the tee, and giving myself every opportunity.”
