With 11 Irishmen competing across the four Spanish venues at DP World Tour Q-School Stage Two, hopes of bolstering the numbers at Final Stage in a fortnight’s time were high as the action got underway.
Desert Springs Golf Club in Almeria was the most heavily populated qualifier in terms of Irish with five players participating. John Ross Galbraith was the best performer of the quintet in round one, with the Whitehead man’s four-under 68 seeing him into a share of seventh place, one ahead of Mark Power who lies tied for 15th.
Dermot McElroy and Hugh Foley shot level-par rounds to keep themselves in touch and share 37th, while Ronan Mullarney, who has a HotelPlanner Tour card for 2026 already secured via the Alps Tour Order of Merit, has ground to make up after a three-over 75.
At Isla Canela, Max Kennedy and Cormac Sharvin both got off to solid starts. Kennedy shrugged off the disappointment of missing out on the HotelPlanner Tour’s Rolex Grand Final this week by recording a five-under 66 to share 11th, while Sharvin’s 68 has him just outside the provisional qualification mark in a tie for 28th at -3.
Tom Dowdall and David Carey were competing at Fontanals Golf Club, and it was the former who had the better of it there. Dowdall’s one-under round of 70 leaves him in a tie for 29th, while Carey is two shots further back but 20 spots lower on the leaderboard.
Golf Las Pinaillas, with a field of 70 compared to the other three’s 72, offers one less qualification place with the leading 23 players progressing compared to 24 at the other venues.
Paul McBride and Robert Moran shot matching level-par 71s and sit tied for 33rd, meaning all 11 of the Irish competitors remain in the mix to advance to the Final Stage.
Desert Springs Leaderboard
Isla Canela Leaderboard
Fontanals Leaderboard
Las Pinaillas Leaderboard
