STONEHAM'S Richard Bland is back in the big time, but it's back to school for two of the county's other top players.
The 31-year-old, pictured above, made sure of his ticket back to the European Tour by cementing his place in the top 15 of the Challenge Tour rankings with a tie for 17th place in the Bouygues Telecom Grand Final, held in France.
Bland left nothing to chance by shooting a tidy 68 in yesterday's final round. His efforts brought him a final order of merit position of 13th at the end of what he has admitted has been a very tough campaign.
Scotland's David Drysdale also earned himself a path back to the main tour by winning the event in a sudden-death play-off with Sweden's Mattias Eliasson, both players having tied on -13 after 72 holes.
In contrast, Hampshire's Matthew Blackey and Martin Lemesurier are facing trips back to Tour School next month after failing to finish in the top 115 in the European Tour order of merit.
The latter comfortably missed the cut at the Open de Madrid, although only a top-two finish would have saved his card as a run of poor form had left him way down the money list.
Blackey, meanwhile, finished in a tie for 38th and seven shots short of the fourth place he required to keep his card. He did however shoot a -7 four-round total and boosted his season's winnings to a shade over 121,000 euros in the process. This, though, still left him down in 129th place in the rankings.
Stoneham's Alan Mew secured top European Seniors Tour playing rights for 2005 by the narrowest of margins.
The Stoneham golfer yesterday finished eighth in the Estoril Seniors Tour Championship to earn just enough prize money to land 50th spot in the order of merit and the playing exemptions that go with it. However, it was close - 51 euros separating Mew and the 51st player in the list!
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