Spanish woe for Walton

Walton missed out by the narrowest of margins

Former Ryder Cup player Philip Walton has crashed out of the European Tour qualifying school.

The Irishman, part of the European team that defeated the United States at Oak Hill back in 1995, carded a 71 at Spain's Emporda Golf Club.

That left him with a five-under par 281 and looked enough to narrowly ensure his passage into the final 36 holes of qualifying school.

But in a nailbiting finale, he was pushed out of contention by the very last group on the course.

It marked his fourth consecutive failure to pick up his Tour card.

Archer leads the field by two strokes

There was better news for another former Ryder Cup player, 1991 European team member Paul Broadhurst.

The Englishman scraped through after a dire finish to his round and bogey sixes on the 16th and 18th left him with a difficult task to make the list of 35 players to earn their cards for next season.

Afterwards he said: "I'd started so well, but the confidence just drains out of you with every bad shot."

There was little to cheer about for Steve Richardson, a team-mate of Broadhurst's from Kiawah Island 11 years ago.

He started Monday's golf at the par-72 Pals Golf Club on Spain's Costa Brava in last place of the 168 players following a string of poor performances.

And his final round of 74 moved him to an unimpressive 165th at 11-over par.

At the other end of the leaderboard, England's Philip Archer is still leading - at 21-under following his round of 67.

He is two strokes clear of compatriot Phil Golding.