Q School winners and losers

The final round of the European Tour's Q-School finished today with the usual mixture of last-ditch glory and disaster

Martin Wiegele win q-school

It was a tense final day at Q-School as 70 players fought tooth and nail for 30 places on next year?s European Tour. Martin Wiegele (pictured) survived dropping six shots over the last five holes to win the Tour?s most notoriously heart-breaking event.

As always on this day however, the real excitement unfolded as those hovering around 30th position looked to secure their playing rights for 2008. The major casualty was the Portuguese Tiago Cruz. He started the final day looking secure in eighth position at seven under par. However, at five over for the round standing on the 16th tee he knew he needed to finish the last three in one under to make it through. The magical birdie duly followed but a bogey at the 215-yard par 3 17th ultimately cost him his golden ticket.

Also missing out by one shot was South African Doug McGuigan. At four under par, things were looking good for the 37 year-old with two holes to play. But the pressure of this unique scramble for places was too much and he finished with agonising back-to-back bogeys.

Celebrating tonight will be Philip Golding and Paul Waring. The English duo both survived shakey finishes to scrape through by one shot. On the same score was South African Thomas Aiken. His final round 80 included six dropped shots over the last six holes. Had he let one more shot slip on his final hole Scott Barr, Matthew Cort, Tiago Cruz and Doug McGuigan would each have received rights to play on the European Tour next year.

Selected qualifiers: Lee Slattery, Francois Delamontagne, Richard Bland, Sven Struver, David Drysdale, Marcel Siem

Selected non-qualifiers: Christopher Hannell, Robert Rock, Eric Ramsay, Gary Emerson

Neil Tappin
Editor

In July 2023, Neil became just the 9th editor in Golf Monthly's 112-year history. Originally working with the best coaches in the UK to produce instruction content, he has also presented many Golf Monthly videos looking at all areas of the game from Tour player interviews to the rules of golf. 

Throughout his time with the brand he has also covered equipment launches that date back well over a decade. He clearly remembers the launch of the Callaway and Nike square drivers as well as the white TaylorMade driver families, such as the RocketBallz! If you take a look at the Golf Monthly YouTube channel, you'll see his equipment videos dating back over a decade! He has also conducted 'What's In The Bag' interviews with many of the game's best players like Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson and Jon Rahm. Over the years, Neil has tested a vast array of products in each category and at drastically different price-points. 


Neil is currently playing: Driver: TaylorMade Stealth Plus Fairway Wood: Titleist TSR2 Hybrid: Titleist TS3 Irons: PING Blueprint S (4&5), PING Blueprint T (6-PW) Wedges: Titleist Vokey SM7 50˚, 54˚, 60˚ Putter: Odyssey Triple Track Ten Ball: Titleist Pro V1X