Lothians golfer keeps tour card bid alive despite TEN on horror hole

Lothians golfer Rory Smith is still in the hunt for a tour card for next season despite running up a TEN at one hole in his opening qualifying school round.

Rory Smith, who is an ambassador at Dalmahoy, is through to the final of the PGA EuroPro Tour Qualifying School

Smith, who is attached to Dalmahoy, overcame his nightmare hole at The Players' Club in Bristol to pass a first-stage test in the battle for PGA EuroPro Tour cards.

He was already on the back foot in the 36-hole shoot-out after making three bogeys in a row when the quintuple-bogey went down on his card at the fifth hole.

But, after managing to fight back to salvage a seven-over-par 77, Smith then added a 68 in the second round to make it through to next week's final.

"It was a bit of a strange one as I wouldn't say I hit a really bad shot that would warrant me making a 10," he admitted, having ended up in a tie for 13th on five-over to be among 25 qualifiers.

"As far as getting it back and qualifying, I just gave myself a pep talk and tried to limit how bad my final score was going to be.

"When I checked the leaderboard after everyone was finished, I was pleasantly surprised to see that I was only two shots off qualifying.

"I knew from past experience at The Players' Club that I was capable of going low on that course, so I was quietly confident that I could claw my way back into qualifying for the final stage."

The final takes place on 14-16 October at Studley Wood in Oxfordshire.

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