TWO YEARS ago Richard Bland was a record-breaking winner of pre-qualifying competition for the European PGA Tour School.

The Stoneham clubman won the four-round competition by ten shots and looked a stone-cold certainty to go on and collect his European Tour Card on the Costa del Sol.

But it never happened. One hole at San Roque, the intimidating 13th, cost him around six shots on the two ill-fated occasions he played it and put him out of contention for the top 40 finish he needed.

The 13th, with its mountain backdrop, has a sloping fairway which rolls down to an out of bounds fence to the right. Bland drove into dead-man's territory three times and only today, as he prepares to tee off in PQ2 (pre-qualifying school two) is he ready to cast out the demons which have been in his mind since then.

"The last 18 months have been a disaster," said the six-times Hampshire Open champion.

"Certain shots and holes have cost me dear. It's been a recurring nightmare because I had one real bad hole at Emporda last year and it cost me my place in Final Tour School - by one shot.

"What's happened since then is that I know more about my swing and posture and I know why I have made mistakes in the past.

"It's all down to doing a lot of work with my coach Martin Butcher. I won pre-qualifying by ten shots two years ago and yes, I was playing pretty well then, but now I feel more in control of my game. I do a lot more fitness work, too, and if you have a fitter body you have a fitter mind."

As a Great Britain amateur international who reached the final of the English Matchplay Championship, Bland looked to have the potential to compete on the tournament circuit.

He may not have secured his European Tour Card yet but in the European PGA events he has contested through his Challenge Tour ranking, he has done well. There was no better example than the Scottish PGA Championship in July when he 11th.

His early-season form on the European Challenge Tour was indifferent but when he impressively won the Hampshire Open title for a sixth time in August, it gave him a timely confidence booster. His form since then has been solid and he achieved his best-ever Challenge Tour finish, fourth in the lucrative Grand Prix event in Sweden last month.

At Emporda in Northern Spain today he and 100 other hopefuls tee off in a 72-hole qualifying competition from which only 25 will go through to final Tour School.

"It's an interesting test," says Bland. "One half of the course is open, like a links, the other is tree lined like a parkland course. And there's a bit of water around, which I found to my cost last year!"