Eight Irish face fresh hell of PQ2

Golf Tour schoolEight Irish hopefuls tee it up today at three clubs, two in northern Spain, TorreMirona and Peralada, and the other, Golf de Saint Cyprien, near Perpignan in France, to try to battle their way through the European Tour's PQ2. Their objective is to secure one of 90 places available to the Tour school final qualifying, which takes place in a fortnight.

Richie Coughlan, who along with Ballymena's Chris Devlin is trying to earn a card for both the European and US tours, is one of six Irish players in action at Saint Cyprien, a 7,081-yard, par-73 course.

Coughlan is due on the first tee at 10.35 Irish time in a threeball that includes French amateur Jean Baptiste Gonnet and Paul McKechnie. He is followed into action 40 minutes later by Portmarnock's Noel Fox, who plays alongside fellow Dubliner Stephen Browne. Ciaran McMonagle is in the next threeball.

Michael Hoey and Damian Mooney start at the 10th tee at 10.55 and 11.15 respectively.

Devlin is Ireland's sole representative at TorreMirona, where the greens are reputed to be in poor condition, a state of affairs repeated at Peralada, the third venue. Waterville's David Higgins has chosen the par-71 course 20 miles north of Girona and tees off at 10.20.