Sam Hutsby and Richard Bland are on course to earn themselves an early Christmas present.

The Hampshire pros sit third and fourth respectively on the European Tour qualifying school leaderboard heading into today’s final round and need only to finish in the top 30 to guarantee a European Tour card for 2012.

Despite losing the lead he had held since opening with an incredible 60 at the PGA Catalunya Resort, Hutsby was delighted by yesterday’s round.

The 23-year-old covered his first nine holes in three over par but picked them all back up in a back nine of 33 in a level-par round of 72.

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