Ireland’s Martina Gillen

Amelia Lewis led group A at the halfway stage of LET Pre-Qualifying School at La Manga Club in Murcia, Spain, on Monday evening.

The American was on four under par after successive rounds of 70 on the North and South course respectively.

She was one clear of France’s Valentine Derrey who shot a 67 on the North course followed by a 74 on the South course. England’s Jodi Ewart was a stroke back on two under.

Only five players in group A were under par for the tournament after two rounds with England’s Charlie Douglass and American Jennie Lee tied for fourth on one under.

In Group B, Ireland’s Martina Gillen and Chrisje de Vries from the Netherlands shared the second round lead on four under and were both one clear of England’s Anna Scott.

Her compatriot Hannah Burke of Mid Herts, Sweden’s Sara Wikstrom and English amateur Kelly Tidy from Royal Birkdale were the only others to have broken par, sitting on minus one after two rounds.

Qualifying School is being played over two stages.  Pre-Qualifying takes place over four rounds from January 8-11, followed by Final Qualifying over five rounds from January 15-19.

At Pre-Qualifying, entrants have been split into two fields: A and B. Field A will play the courses in the order of  North, South, North, South and Field B will play the courses in the order of South, North, South, North.

There are 72 holes scheduled per field with the leading 35 players and ties from each field going through to the final stage. Players who do not make the final stage will be eligible for Membership in Category 11b. Every effort will be made to complete four rounds including the extension of play into the 12th January 2012, otherwise a result will be declared if only three or two rounds are possible.

At Final Qualifying, 90 holes of play are scheduled. The field will play over both the North and South Courses with the final round on the South. There will be a cut to the leading 50 players and ties after 72 holes.

Players who fail to make the 72 hole cut will be eligible for Membership in Category 11a.

After the final round the top 30 players will be eligible for LET Membership in Category 8a and will be ranked in final score order; if necessary a play-off will take place to establish 1st and 30th position.

After the final round players who have made the cut and finish in positions 31 and below will be ranked according to score and be eligible for Membership in Category 9b.

Except to establish 1st and 30th spot, a card count back will be used to rank all tied scores: best last 18 holes, best last 54 holes, best first 36 holes, best last 9, 6, 3, 2 and 1 holes (holes 10 to 18).

Any player who makes the cut but subsequently withdraws due to injury or illness will be offered the last position in category 9b. Every effort will be made to complete five (5) rounds including the extension of play into 20th January 2012, otherwise a result will be declared if only four (4) or three (3) rounds are possible.