David Drysdale brushed aside any fears of snakes and scorpions to grab a second eagle of his week along with four birdies on day two to muscle his way to a share of second place heading to the final two rounds of the DP World Tour Q-School in Spain.
Drysdale, 47, added a second straight five-under 67 in windy conditions to move to 10-under and tied with Oliver Farr (69) and just a shot adrift of German Philipp Katich, who heads the second stage of qualifying at 11-under on the Desert Springs course to the north-east of Malaga.
Ayrshire’s Michael Stewart, a winner in September’s Scottish Masters at Leven on the Euro Pro Tour, also lies second on nine-under and one off the lead after his sizzling nine-under 62 at Las Colinas, and another of four host venues this week.
Stewart, 35, is already exempt into the 2023 secondary Challenge Tour and a top-25 at Las Colinas would see him join Drysdale, if he should also qualify, next week for the final qualifying stage at Tarragona in Spain.
Desert Springs, as the name implies, it’s a very desert-like setting and something you’d find in Arizona and with signs about the course warning of the danger of snakes and scorpions.
However, the Eyemouth-attached Drysdale has shown no fear and instead has focussed on the golfing bird life of eagles and birdies.
Drysdale was off to a great start with a hat-trick of birdies ahead of fourth birdie at 10, and then for a second day running he eagled the par-3 15th, and known as ‘Oh Mama!’ on the club’s scorecard ahead of his only bogey in two rounds at the 16th.
Drysdale said: “It was another decent round though it was a different golf course today, with the wind making it very tricky compared to the last two days.
“So, it was much trickier and very pleasing as the wind was swirling in a lot of places and that made it difficult to work out the direction and while it was a struggle all you could do was just trust your shots.
“So, all good so far and pretty pleased. This is our 11th week in a row, so just trying to get plenty of rest and keep it going.
As for spotting any scorpions or snakes?
Beward Snakes & Scorpions – Photograph with thanks to Stuart Adams
Drysdale said: “I’ve seen the signs about the course but then I don’t want to go bumping into any of those creatures.
“I spoke to a couple of members and while they’ve seen snakes, they’ve not seen scorpions but then I’m not about to go looking under any rocks (smiling).”
Meantime ..
Lone Scot Euan Walker remains on target to secure his 2023 DP World Tour card despite the brutal, windy conditions on day two at the secondary Challenge Tour final event in Mallorca.
Walker signed for a three-over 75 to be sharing sixth place at one-under, and only four shots off the lead and with the Scot actually projected to move up a place to 20th and right on the mark with the top-20 come Sunday to earn their main Tour card.
Strong winds demolished the opening tee signage, saw a tree blown over at 18 and wreaked havoc with the scores among the 45 players.
Walker, and out in the last group, was off to a horror start in taking a triple-bogey ‘7’ at the first.
The Troon golfer then dug deep posting nine pars in succession ahead of his only birdie at 13 ahead of bogeys at the 15th and final holes.
Two players – England’s Matthew Baldwin (69) and Frenchman Adrien Sadlier (65) – share the lead at 10-under.
Only nine of the 45 players managed to break par in the conditions.
