Irish amateur star Alan Dunbar finished just one shot off the bottom of the leaderboard after yesterday’s first round of European Tour second stage qualifying at Lumine Golf & Beach Club in north-east Spain.

Fourteen Irish golfers begin the second stage of the European Tour qualifying school at four venues throughout Spain today.

Three Irish golfers, Peter O’Keeffe (Muskerry), Damian Mooney (Ballyliffin) and Mark Staunton (Ballinasloe), take part in the first European Tour School at the Roxburghe Hotel, Kelso, Scotland today.

THERE was joy in southern Spain last night for four Irishmen who battled their way through Stage 2 of the European Tour qualifying process and now go forward to the marathon six-round decider beginning at Catalunya, Girona, on Saturday.

THE MAJORITY of the 13-strong Irish contingent at the second stage of the European Tour School in Spain remain in contention for places in next week’s final Tour School.

MUNSTER golfers Cian McNamara, Aaron O’Callaghan and David Higgins yesterday played themselves into promising positions after the first day of the second qualifying stage of the European Tour School at four venues in Spain.

YOU could be forgiven for thinking the end of the competitive golf season had finally arrived now we are almost into the month of December.

NIALL TURNER flies into Spain today to prepare for what he describes as the biggest pressure week of the professional golfing year.

Trevor Immelman admitted he still cannot quite believe he is the new Masters champion as he prepared to return to competitive action for the first time since his Augusta National victory earlier this month.

Bryce Molder has struggled during his first full year on the PGA Tour, but the four-time All-American at Georgia Tech may be getting closer to breaking through for his first victory.

Dozens of volunteers are still digging for bodies buried under mountains of mud in Las Colinas two weeks after the El Salvador earthquake.

Rescuers have called off a frantic search for a Salvadoran building worker trapped for nine days under an earthquake-triggered mudslide.

A builder may have survived for nine days under a mudslide triggered by the El Salvador earthquake.

Bulldozers have gone in after sniffer dogs and heartbeat detectors failed in a final attempt to locate more survivors of the El Salvador earthquake.

The death toll in the El Salvador earthquake has risen to 600.

A child is one of the latest survivors to be found by rescuers following El Salvador's earthquake.

Many of the 400 victims of El Salvador's earthquake have been buried in mass graves.

Strong aftershocks have sent rescuers fleeing from the search for survivors of the El Salvador earthquake.

Authorities in El Salvador say 234 people are known to have died in a major earthquake which struck Central America on Saturday.

Hundreds of people are feared buried alive after a huge earthquake hit Central America, devastating a suburb of El Salvador's capital city.

Rescuers using sticks and their bare hands are digging for survivors in buried homes after a powerful earthquake struck El Salvador and Guatemala.