Canizares and Lombard at the head of the Q

Alejandro Canizares and Zander Lombard topped the leaderboard at the conclusion of the final stage of Qualifying School – with 27 players earning European Tour cards.

Following six rounds at Lumine Golf Club in Alicante, South Africa’s Lombard and Spain’s Canizares could not be separated on 24 under par and, as is customary in the case of a tie, the duo were crowned joint winners with no playoff taking place.

Canizares, who carded a seven under par round of 64, was pleased to get through the week with a European Tour card.

He said: “It was difficult for me. It’s been a weird two years coming over here and I couldn’t be happier. My future wife is pregnant and I’m going to be a father soon.

“There’s many good things happening at the moment.

“I’ve played in three Q-Schools now, it’s been a long time that has gone really quickly since I started on the tour in 2006, and I knew my golf was there it just wasn’t happening the last two years. I had a couple of injuries, some personal things and golf wasn’t happening. All those things are gone and I can just play and focus on my game and get the confidence back hopefully.”

Lombard was also relieved to have retained his place on the main tour after finishing 133rd in the Race to Dubai.

He said: “It’s great having lost my card and now I’ve regained my rights its awesome. I shouldn’t have been here in the first place, but to come out strong and prove myself to be on the Tour is really amazing.

“I’m going to play four weeks on the trot and then four weeks back home at the beach with a few cocktails.”