Willey Joins Top Five At Stage Two - 05/12/2007

ANDREW WILLEY has earned a late exemption to the Second Stage of European Tour Qualifying School.

Willey, the winner of the China Fleet International Open just a fortnight ago, has moved up to sixth in the PGA EuroPro Tour rankings.

The top five players on the Order of Merit win a place at the Second Stage of European Tour Qualifying School from 2-5 November in Spain.

However, current leader John Wade, a two-time winner on the 2005 PGA EuroPro Tour, has earned his place in Spain thanks to his more recent performances on the Challenge Tour.

That means Willey will join Daniel Gaunt, Simon Robinson, Mark Smith and Phil Worthington at Stage Two in their bid to step onto the European Tour.

"It's a great reward for all the guys for their hard work this year," said PGA EuroPro Tour Managing Director Eddie Hearn.

"John has performed at a consistently high level since winning back-to-back events at the start of the year, and he has set the standard for the rest of the players to match.

"Players such as Daniel Gaunt and Mark Smith have also had plenty of top-ten finishes, and Andrew fully deserves his spot after a superb win at China Fleet recently."