Ryder Cup trio fail to reach qualifying standard

Steve Richardson, Paul Broadhurst and Philip Walton, who have all played in the Ryder Cup, face an uncertain future after failing to progress from the European Tour qualifying school at San Roque, Spain, yesterday.

Richardson missed out by one after a final-hole bogey while his 1991 Cup team-mate Broadhurst was eight strokes adrift after a triple-bogey on the same hole. Walton, Europe's hero six years ago, failed by six shots.

Johan Skold, of Sweden, finished in front, on 17 under par. The overnight leader, David Park, had an 80, the worst round of the day to drop to 14th. The 19-year-old Liverpudlian Nick Dougherty underlined his potential by not dropping a stroke in his last 36 holes to finish third.

For Walton it was a third successive failure at the school and he will continue to rely mostly on invitations for his chances to play on the European Tour. "I can't afford to play the Challenge Tour," he said. "No family man can."

Paul Lawrie's 40-foot putt to win the Dunhill Links championship at St Andrews has been named the European Tour's Shot of the Year. Lawrie was in the Valley of Sin at St Andrews and needed to get down in two to tie with Ernie Els. But, just as Costantino Rocca did at the 1995 Open to get into a play-off with John Daly, Lawrie holed the shot for victory.

Daly has pulled out of the year's final two tournaments in Asia because of his fear of travelling following the 11 September terrorist attacks. The American was due to compete in this week's BMW Asian Open in Taiwan followed by the Omega Hong Kong Open.