Martin Le Mesurier believes he is due a change of luck after suffering two strokes of outrageous misfortune in the last 12 months.

The 26-year-old Brokenhurst Manor golfer is still haunted by his elimination from stage two of the European Tour qualifying school almost a year to the day.

When 30mph winds were whipping across northern Spain, Le Mesurier slumped from 15th to 31st on the last day of the second qualifying round and missed out on a place at Final Tour School by one place and one shot.

He and those others who slipped down the order on that last day counted themselves particularly unlucky because play at the three other qualifying venues was postponed with third-round positions determining who went to Final Tour School.

"If we'd been off, I would have qualified," said Le Mesurier.

As it was, he had to put his European Tour ambitions on hold for another year, playing instead in the UK-based EuroProTour series in which he has just finished an impressive fourth in the order of merit.

But it was in one of the early-season tournaments that Le Mesurier was hit by another stroke of rotten luck. He made the mistake of not swatting up on the local rules and when his ball landed just outside a ringed environmentally sensitive area, he was unaware that he should take a penalty drop.

"My ball was outside the area, but one of my feet was on the line," said Le Mesurier. "I only realised my mistake after the tournament was over and I had finished second, but I did the decent thing and disqualified myself."

That bit of honesty cost him £5,000 and top spot on the EuroProTour order of merit. Nevertheless, with four second places to his credit, the former Hampshire amateur champion finished fourth in the money order with earnings of more than £27,000 and a ranking which will enable him to play on the European Challenge Tour next season.

It's a good insurance policy against him not securing his card next month, but as he heads off for PQ2 at Catalunya on November 7, Le Mesurier has only one thing in mind - to join old county golfing pals like Richard Bland and Matt Blackey in the first division of European golf.

Four years on, the competitive American college circuit sharpened his game and honed his competitive instincts. "You only need one bad hole, like I had last year, and your plans for the year are down the drain," said Le Mesurier.

"But seeing Richard and Matt there gives me the hope and the belief that I can go on and join them. There was nothing between us as amateurs; in fact, I beat Richard on my way to winning the county title in 1994.

"My game is pretty sound. I've played a lot more competitive golf than last year so I'm better prepared. I just hope the luck will go with me for a change."

Hampshire have a double interest in the second qualifying school in the shape of last year's Hampshire Open and Hampshire PGA champion, Steve Cowle, from the Blacknest club near Alton.

Like Le Mesurier, Cowle has been playing the EuroProTour this season and has made most of the cuts and had a couple of top tens. But his best performance came at the first qualifying school last month where Cowle qualified in second place.