Des Smyth dramatically birdied the 18th to win the PGA Champions Tour Qualifying School in Florida yesterday.

The 49-year-old Drogheda battler carded one under par 71 to beat Japan’s Seiji Ebihara by a shot and clinch his US Seniors Tour card for next season.

Smyth finished on 13 under par as playing partner Ebihara crashed to a four over par 76.

The top eight players won their playing right for the 2003 US Seniors Tour – renamed the Champions Tour.

But there was agony for Eamonn Darcy as he missed out by a shot when he finished ninth on eight under.

Tied for second starting the day, four behind Ebihara, Smyth birdied the third and fourth for an ideal start.

A bogey at the par five fifth set him back but after earlier rounds of 67, 68 and 69, Smyth was always confident.

Nerves got the better of Ebihara as he made bogeys at the second, sixth, eighth and 11th and 16th with just one birdie a the par five third.

But Smyth was solid and despite a second bogey at the 11th he parred his way to the 18th tee and birded the hole to snatch a dramatic win.

Darcy looked almost certain to join Americans Mark Pfeil and Pat McDonald in a three way play-off for the final spot before Pfeil birdied the par five 18th to deny him

The Delgany man had the consolation of gaining conditional status for those finishing between in ninth to 16th, guaranteeing him conditional status next year.

Darcy started brilliantly, firing birdies at three of the first four holes to move into the top five on ten under.

A double-bogey six at seventh stopped his momentum and although he got a shot back at the 12th another bogey at the 15th left the Delgany man out of the top eight.

Needing a birdie at the 500 yard, par five 18th he could do no better than par and had to wait 45 minutes before Pfeil broke a three way tie on eight under par.

Meanwhile in Portugal, four Irishmen qualified for next week’s European Seniors Tour Final Qualifying School.

Amateurs Harry McKinney and Liam MacNamara joined professionals Leonard Owens and Kenny Stevenson amongst the qualifiers at Stage One in at the Palmares Course near Lagos.

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© Brian Keogh 2002

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