Mark Power birdied two of his last three holes to make the 72-hole cut and keep his hopes alive heading into the last two rounds of the final stage of DP World Tour Q-School at Infinitum.
It was an impressive round of 66 for Power who climbed into the top-60 on the mark at six-under-par courtesy of birdies on 16 and 18 at the Lakes Course. He may still be five shots shy of the top-20 and ties which would secure category 18 on the DP World Tour but in making the cut he has guaranteed a HotelPlanner Tour card for next season.
The Kilkenny man suffered a demoralising blow to his hopes of having any status anywhere next year when he carded a Sunday round of 76 but he got back on the horse with three birdies in his first six holes on Monday as he tried to make ammends.
A birdie on 13 and a bogey on 15 still left him two shots off the cut but the 25-year-old came up with the goods late on.
It’s still been a very disappointing week overall for the Irish with Cormac Sharvin, JR Galbraith, Max Kennedy and Conor Purcell all missing the four round cut.
Kennedy and Purcell will have to try and work their way to the DP World Tour via the HotelPlanner Tour alongside Liam Nolan and James Sugrue, while Sharvin and Galbraith may earn some starts on Europe’s second tier.
Sharvin missed the cut by three shots after a 72 with Galbraith a shot further back on two-under, but there was huge disappointment for Kennedy and Purcell who were well off the pace on one-under and two-over respectively.
Zander Lombard took a big step towards securing DP World Tour playing privileges for 2026 by jumping into a six-stroke lead.
The South African, who shared the overnight lead with Benjamin Follett-Smith from Zimbabwe, posted a seven under par 64 on the Lakes Course to reach 22 under par for the week, six clear of Australian Connor McKinney who occupies solo second.
Lombard got his fourth round off to the perfect start by birdieing his first two holes before adding two more gains at the fifth and sixth. A bogey at the seventh was cancelled out by birdies on eight and nine as he went out in 30 shots to separate himself from the field.
The 30-year-old added three more birdies and a solitary bogey on the back nine to extend his advantage, and he was delighted to remain on top in Tarragona.
“It was really good stuff again,” he said. “I hit the ball well and had good control over it, especially on the back nine when the wind started picking up and gusting in all different directions.
“The start set up perfect for me. I hit a gap wedge to about eight feet on the first and then hit the par five in two and two-putted, so the birdie-birdie start got some momentum going in the right direction. I just freewheeled and stuck to my process from there.
“It’s easy to just sit back and start making sloppy errors, so I’m trying to stay focussed and stay in it for two more days.”
