Sweden’s Simon Forsström will take a two-shot lead over England’s Daniel Brown into the sixth and last round of Final Stage DP World Tour Qualifying School, which is being held at INFINITUM in Spain.
Forsström, who has led since the third round, and led by two after the fourth round, carded six birdies in his five-under-par 66 on day five to move to 26 under par for 90 holes.
The 33-year-old is in a fantastic position heading into the final round, with the top 25 and ties earning DP World Tour playing privileges.
“I’m very pleased with today because I played solid and made some putts,” he said. “My ball striking wasn’t as good as the previous rounds, but I still gave myself a lot of chances to make birdies. I’m probably feeling less pressure being at the top heading into the final round this week because I know I just need to finish in the top 25, but I just need to keep playing well tomorrow.”
Portugal’s Pedro Figueiredo signed for a seven-under 64 to move into a tie for third on 22 under, alongside four-time DP World Tour winner Kiradech Aphibarnrat.
A host of players are still in the hunt for top tier playing privileges with 18 holes remaining, including Spaniard Alejandro Del Rey, who sits in a tie for 20th on 16 under par. The 24-year-old is determined to get the job done this week after narrowly missing out on his DP World Tour card at the Rolex Challenge Tour Grand Final just over a week ago.
“It was very tough to come down here after the Rolex Challenge Tour Grand Final,” he said. “It was a tough week after a good year and I was disappointed not to finish it off. I was feeling a bit down on myself and I didn’t have time to really process what happened that week, so it has been more mental than physical for me. It would mean everything for me to earn a DP World Tour card because it is something I had in mind the whole year, especially after winning on the Challenge Tour. I would love to go out there and play against the best in the world.”
Those currently hovering around the 25th placed-mark include the English sextet of Sam Hutsby (T20th), David Horsey (T24th), OJ Russell (T24th), Garrick Porteous (T28th), Marco Penge (T28th) and Ross McGowan (T31st). All will be hoping for strong finishes to the 108-hole marathon, the final round of which gets under way at at 9am local time tomorrow (Wednesday), with Forsström teeing it up in the final group alongside Brown and Figueiredo at 11.06am.
One of the most interesting form turnarounds this week has come from Germany’s Nick Bachem, who opened his campaign with a four-over-par 76, and then followed it up with a 10-under par 61 – fully 15 shots better than his previous round. He currently lies in tied 12th place on -18.
For the current leaderboard from Qualifying School, click here.
