A flawless six under par 66 over the New Course at San Roque Club gave Spain’s Pablo Larrazabal the second round lead in The European Tour Qualifying School – Final Stage.

Larrazabal birdied the opening hole and never looked back as he established a one stroke lead over Portugal’s Tiago Cruz and South African Thomas Aiken. Austrian Roland Steiner continued his good progress to lie at five under par after a round of 70 on the Old Course while Peter Senior, at 48 the oldest player in the field with four European Tour titles under his belt, is shot further back in the group on four under par after shooting an outstanding 67 in testing conditions on the Costa del Sol.

A flawless six under par 66 over the New Course at San Roque Club gave Spain’s Pablo Larrazabal the second round lead in The European Tour Qualifying School – Final Stage.

Larrazabal birdied the opening hole and never looked back as he established a one stroke lead over Portugal’s Tiago Cruz and South African Thomas Aiken. Austrian Roland Steiner continued his good progress to lie at five under par after a round of 70 on the Old Course while Peter Senior, at 48 the oldest player in the field with four European Tour titles under his belt, is shot further back in the group on four under par after shooting an outstanding 67 in testing conditions on the Costa del Sol.

A pitching wedge to four feet on the first set up Larrazabal’s opening birdie and he picked up another shot when he holed from 15 feet on the fifth in an outward half of 34. A chip in from 15 feet on the tenth kept his momentum going and three more birdies followed on the 12th, 14th and 16th holes for a back nine of 32.

“I started really well with the birdie on the first and almost birdied the last as well which would have been nice,” said Larrazabal. “I think I played better yesterday but missed quite a few short putts. Today’s round was  much better on the greens. I made a couple of mistakes but made a good recovery each time.”

Larrazabal, the brother of 2002 Amateur Champion Alejandro, has had a solid second half of the season on the Challenge Tour after making some swing changes early in the year, his best performance being fourth in the POSTBANK Challenge presented by Marcel Siem.

Cruz is hoping to join José-Felipe Lima as the only Portuguese players on The European Tour and a second round 70 took him to six under par and in a very strong position after two rounds.

“Things are going right so far,” he said. “It was a tough day with a strong wind and the New Course is quite narrow. But I found the middle of the fairway all day and played very steady. Obviously the goal is to make it onto The European Tour. There is only one Portuguese player on Tour at the moment so it would be nice to join Felipe.”

Aiken is making his second successive appearance at the Qualifying School – Final Stage having missed the cut by one stroke a year ago and then also missing out on the US version as well.

“Last year I had a nightmare with Q Schools as I got straight into the finals here, and finished four over and missed the cut by one shot and then flew straight over to America to the Second Stage there,” explained Aiken. “I landed at 1am and tee it up straight away at 7am that morning. Got through but missed out on the finals. I have had a good deal of practice with the Q Schools these last two years.

“I played Second Stage last week, hit the ball well but didn’t hole many putts and it is funny how this game works as I don’t feel I have hit the ball at all well but had a few putts go in. Just kept thinking one shot at a time one hole at a time and kept plodding away. It is a long week, a mental and physical battle.”

Steiner, 24, who has only been playing golf for ten years and finished second on the Alps Tour this year, so has his Challenge Tour status assured, shot a second round of 70 to lie in fourth place.

Senior has 18 months to go before he becomes eligible for the Seniors Tour and is hoping for one last crack at The European Tour before he becomes 50. Five birdies and just the one dropped shot on his opening nine, the back nine over San Roque’s New Course, took the Australian up the leaderboard and a solid second nine left him only two off the pace.

“For me it is not a do or die sort of thing so I am probably a bit more relaxed than most of the other guys as I can stick my hat on and go back to work next week,” admitted Senior, Chairman of the PGA Tour of Australasia. “But I want to play a bit next year. I enjoy playing in Europe and have pretty much done it all my life.”