Blustery conditions and wet fairways made for tricky scoring conditions on the New Course, but 15 players rose to the occasion to begin their charge for the five Legends Tour cards with under par rounds.
The best among them is Chris Gane, who notched six birdies and kept his card clean with no dropped shots. The Englishman gathered early momentum with three red numbers in a row from the 4th and added another at the par-5 9th to turn in -4. Two more birdies at 14 and the par-5 closing hole got him to an impressive -6 total.
He had to come through the 36-hole First Stage earlier this week, and he built confidence and experience on the New Course by finishing tied-1st with rounds of 71 and 72.
“We were lucky enough to come down a bit earlier and played the First Stage and we had similar conditions to this on one of the days, so it certainly helped today,” Gane said. “It was gusty wind and tricky pin positions today, so I’m chuffed.
“I think this golf course is all about driving it. It’s a very narrow course and you get a swirling wind around the trees. When you’ve played it in those conditions, you know what you’re facing, and it gives you a bit of confidence. A lot of clubs that I hit at First Stage, I hit today, so it certainly helped.
“I knew I was playing quite well after First Stage, but I didn’t putt as well as I could have done. I had a chance to practice that, and I holed a few today.”
Gane turns 50 in June, so a top-five finish this week would set him up to start competing on the Legends Tour as soon as he celebrates his birthday and becomes eligible for the seniors’ circuit.
He added: “I’ve kept playing and it’s nice to be the spring chicken out here. I’m used to playing on some of the mini tours where I’m the old man. I’ve got nothing to talk about with some of those guys, if I don’t know about Love Island and Made in Chelsea. It’s nice to reminisce about how things were and life under Thatcher and things like that with all the old boys, so I’m really looking forward to hopefully playing on the Legends Tour.”
Peter Wilson, Van Phillips and Lionel Alexandre are tied-2nd on -4. Wilson recovered well from being +1 through seven holes with five birdies in his next 11, and Phillips finished with three birdies in his final five holes.
Frenchman Alexandre earned his debut season on the Legends Tour in 2023 by finishing 4th at Q School. He had a decent rookie campaign to finish 35th on the MCB Road to Mauritius, and he’s made a positive start in pursuit of the top-five finish that would improve his status for the coming season.
Carl Suneson, Andrew Marshall and Carlos Balmaseda are tied-5th on -3, with Simon Griffiths, who missed out on qualifying from Q School last season by one place and two shots, at -2. A seven-way tie for 9th on -1 includes India’s Jyoti Randhawa, Italian Alessandro Tadini, Brazil’s Rafa Barcellos and American Fran Quinn.
There are six amateurs in the 72-player field, with Andrew Borg the best placed of those after opening with a level-par 72. The Maltese had four birdies and two double bogeys to sit in a share for 16th place.
The top five players after four rounds will gain their cards for this year’s Legends Tour, with a cut to only players within eight shots of the final qualifying spot (5th) after 54 holes. A sudden death play-off will take place to determine the final qualifiers if there is a tie for the fifth and final spot.
Visit www.legendstour.com to see the full leaderboard, round two tee times and to find out more about Legends Tour Q School at Gloria Golf Club, Belek, Turkey.
