Hampshire will make a three-pronged attack on this week's European Tour Qualifying School finals in Spain.

Steve Cowle and Martin Le Mesurier, star pupils at stage two of qualifying school last weekend, go forward to join former Ryder Cup man Steve Richardson in golf's version of the Spanish inquisition.

Six nerve-wracking rounds will determine the 36 players (and ties) who will earn their cards for next season's ever-growing, ever more lucrative European Tour.

Cowle and Le Mesurier have never been there before but they go to Final Tour School in impressive form having achieved top-ten finishes in the stage two of qualifying at Catalunya GC.

Last year's Hampshire Open and Strokeplay champion Cowle, from the Blacknest Club near Alton, took second place with a highly impressive seven-under par aggregate for the 72-hole event. Rounds of 69 74 70 and 68 in less than ideal conditions gave him a dazzling double because he also took second place in stage one of the qualifying competition at Charthills back in September.

Le Mesurier's safe passage to Final Tour School makes up for missing out by one shot last year when the wind really blew up and made qualifying a lottery.

This time the former Hampshire amateur champion from the Brokenhurst Manor Club made no mistake, going through in eighth place with a one-under par total (75 71 72 69).

It continues a strong season for the 26-year-old from Blackfield & Langley who finished third in the order of merit on the EuroProTour, the high-quality tournament circuit based largely in the UK.

Richardson is no stranger to Final Tour School. For the man who was number two in Europe in 1991 and went on to play in the Ryder Cup and earn England a victory in the Dunhill World Cup, it will be his fifth successive visit to the torturous six-round event.

He has a good record, qualifying four times, but missed out on a precious top 36 slot by just one shot last year. He heads for Spain bolstered by the birth of his second daughter, Anna, last month.

Rico will be looking for a change of fortune, having failed to make the cut in any of the handful of European Tour events he contested this season.

The finals will be fought out at two Spanish courses, Emporda and Pals, starting on Friday.