Irish off to a flyer at Euro Q-School

Ireland took a remarkable 1-2 in the European Tour School’s qualifying phase stage one at Roxburgh Hotel in Scotland yesterday, with Mark Staunton and Peter O’Keeffe occupying the top two spots.

Staunton, the 30-year-old from Ballinsloe, led from the start of the event on Tuesday and finished with a solid one under par 71 yesterday for a 72-hole aggregate of 276 and a yawning eight-stroke cushion over Muskerry-based O’Keeffe.

The Ballinasloe man could afford the luxury of two bogeys in the last three holes and still demolish his rivals.

O’Keeffe was steady yesterday compiling halves of 36 and 37 for a 73 and a 284 aggregate to take second place by a stroke from England’s George Thacker.

Waterville’s New Orleans-based Mark Murphy scraped through to the next stage on the cut-off mark after closing with a level par 72 for 291.

Murphy kept his nerve to par the last six holes and finished joint eighth — a stroke more and he would have been out. Belfast’s Damien Mooney fell by the slipped to a 74 yesterday for a 294 total, missing out by three strokes. Staunton, O’Keefe and Murphy now go forward to the second stage next month.