Rosapenna’s Ruaidhrí McGee resisted winds gusting to 30mph to keep his hopes of survival intact in the third round of European Tour Qualifying School at PGA Catalunya Resort.

On a day when West Waterford's Gary Hurley struggled to a 76 and playing partner Kevin Phelan posted a six over 78 to see their chances making the 72 hole severely diminished, McGee's level par 72 on the Stadium Course felt like a round in the mid-60s considering the scoring average there was 75.6.

At three-over-par, the 25-year-old Derry man is three strokes outside the top 70 and ties who will make the four round cut and already seven outside the top 25 and ties who will be awarded tour cards. Still, he was upbeat.

“It feels a lot better than a 72,” said McGee, who was one under par playing the 18th but bunkered his approach and dropped his third shot of a very difficult day.

“It was really tough out there and I actually hit a lot of fairways and greens, which is strange because I was missing everything the first two days when it was calm.”

Set to play the easier Tour Course in round four, he’s praying that the leaders have as tough time on the Stadium Course today, adding: “Hopefully it’ll stay windy and they come back. I seem to like it when there is a bit if wind anyway. I’ll just keep plodding along.”

Five-time European Tour winner Michael Hoey is still the best of the Irish quartet, just a shot outside the cut mark on one over par after lurching home in 41 for a six over 76 on the Tour Course, where the field averaged 72.7 in round three – 4.6 shots more than on Sunday.

Five under for the tournament and inside the top 25 as he made the turn, the 37-year old dropped six shots in a four-hole stretch early on his back nine with most of the damage done by a triple bogey seven at the third, where he thinned a chip into a pond.

“I am just out of kilter,” Hoey said, describing both his day and his season. “The game is good but the focus and concentration is just not there. I haven’t had it this season. Hopefully I feel a little more centred tomorrow and we’ll have three more rounds.”

Hurley and Phelan were unlucky that they were in the second group off on the back nine at the Stadium Course and spent most of the day on the clock, so slow was the pace of play in the windy conditions.

Hurley freely admits that he is not the world’s fastest player but he found it particularly difficult to play his usual game with the roving referees urging the group to stick to their allotted time.

Superb chipping and putting alone allowed him to turned in one-under-par and get back to level for the tournament.

But with his group falling 20 minutes behind their allotted time by the 18th, he admitted he was affected by the constant threat of the stopwatch and dropped five shots in a homeward 41 for a 76 that leaves him tied 107th and five shots outside the cut mark on five over.

“I wasn’t playing well at all and just holed a few putts early on,” Hurley said. “I was grinding but then on our back nine it was very difficult to stick to the allotted time and stay in position. It started to get to me a bit.

“We were basically first out with a two ball ahead of us so it was up to us to set the pace and being on the clock made it even tougher.”

Phelan shot 78 to slip to 124th on seven over, admitting that losing time on the front nine cost the threeball dear on a tough day.

Only 15 players broke par all day with 2009 US PGA winner YE Yang’s immaculate, five under 67 – one of only four sub-par rounds on the Stadium Course – catapulting him 82 places up the leaderboard to tied 13th on five under par.

The South Korean is four shots adrift of England’s Robert Coles and Richard McEvoy, who lead by one from compatriot Ross McGowan and Dane Jeff Winther at the halfway stage of golf’s toughest test.

European Tour Qualifying School Final Stage, PGA Catalunya Resort, Girona, Spain (Stadium Course Par 72; Tour Course, Par 70)

203 R McEvoy (Eng) 63 69 71; R Coles (Eng) 64 68 71;

204 R McGowan (Eng) 68 66 70; J Winther (Den) 68 68 68;

205 D Van Driel (Ned) 66 69 70; D Law (Sco) 66 71 68; T Chuayprakong (Tha) 64 74 67;

206 E Molinari (Ita) 66 68 72; S Heisele (Ger) 68 66 72; C Braeunig (Ger) 66 67 73; E Van Rooyen (RSA) 71 67 68; O Lengden (Swe) 73 65 68;

207 J Parry (Eng) 71 67 69; B Neil (Sco) 64 72 71; E Pepperell (Eng) 69 69 69; J Guerrier (Fra) 69 70 68; A Rai (Eng) 66 67 74; N Johansson (Swe) 70 67 70; A Chesters (Eng) 68 66 73;

208 M Godoy (Arg) 65 74 69; L Canter (Eng) 69 66 73; M Lafeber (Ned) 65 71 72; J Fahrbring (Swe) 68 68 72; S Khan (Eng) 72 67 69; Z Lombard (RSA) 67 67 74; J Suri (USA) 64 70 74; S Manley (Wal) 72 63 73;

209 T Lewis (Eng) 73 65 71; O Wilson (Eng) 68 70 71; S Tiley (Eng) 64 71 74; C Sordet (Fra) 67 72 70; C Ford (Eng) 76 63 70; J Allan (Eng) 67 70 72; D Fox (Aus) 72 66 71; J Garcia Pinto (Esp) 70 68 71; K Horne (RSA) 68 72 69; S Henry (Sco) 64 75 70; E Kofstad (Nor) 67 68 74; B Eccles (Aus) 67 68 74; Y Yang (Kor) 72 70 67;

210 E Di Nitto (Ita) 70 69 71; R Gangjee (Ind) 68 69 73; R Echenique (Arg) 69 69 72; M Jonzon (Swe) 63 73 74; E Dubois (Fra) 71 65 74;

211 T Van Der Walt (RSA) 71 68 72; M Orrin (Eng) 67 68 76; M Nixon (Eng) 67 73 71; N Kimsey (Eng) 70 70 71; R Johnson (Swe) 72 67 72; B Etchart (Esp) 66 72 73; J Blaauw (RSA) 71 67 73; R Kellett (Sco) 72 66 73; A Karlsson (Swe) 71 69 71; S Forsström (Swe) 72 67 72; A Connelly (USA) 71 67 73;

212 B Hemstock (Eng) 67 68 77; R Sciot-Siegrist (Fra) 67 72 73; J Harrison (Eng) 70 67 75; R McCarthy (Aus) 74 64 74; S Webster (Eng) 64 74 74; R Gonzalez (Arg) 67 73 72; B Stow (Eng) 69 70 73; M Ford (Eng) 72 68 72; C Griffiths (Eng) 68 68 76; M Foster (Eng) 67 71 74; G Porteous (Eng) 73 66 73;

213 J Lara (Esp) 67 69 77; O Rozner (Fra) 66 72 75; M Lundberg (Swe) 71 70 72; J Ahlers (RSA) 70 71 72; E Loar (USA) 72 67 74; G King (Eng) 73 66 74; M Hoey (Nir) 70 67 76;

214 D Burmester (RSA) 73 68 73; R Dinwiddie (Eng) 72 69 73; J Rutherford (Eng) 72 72 70; R Santos (Por) 73 68 73; P Maddy (Eng) 75 67 72;

215 L Gagli (Ita) 71 69 75; B Easton (RSA) 73 68 74; P Imondi (USA) 68 69 78; T Linard (Fra) 73 67 75; J Heath (Eng) 70 71 74; A Maestroni (Ita) 68 74 73;

216 P Eriksson (Swe) 71 69 76; S Soderberg (Swe) 72 71 73; O Stark (Swe) 69 74 73; L De Jager (RSA) 72 70 74; U Van Den Berg (RSA) 68 75 73; J Hansen (Den) 67 75 74;

217 A Saddier (Fra) 73 66 78; V Riu (Fra) 69 74 74; P Widegren (Swe) 72 71 74; J Girrbach (Sui) 70 73 74; M Simonsen (Den) 75 70 72; R McGee (Irl) 73 72 72; R Saxton (Ned) 73 69 75; M Delpodio (Ita) 73 68 76; D Huizing (Ned) 73 64 80;

218 C Lee (Sco) 72 74 72; R Evans (Eng) 75 65 78; D Vancsik (Arg) 70 75 73; C Bull (Eng) 72 74 72; E Goya (Arg) 77 67 74; T Pulkkanen (Fin) 77 66 75; B Evans (Eng) 70 71 77; M Tullo (Chi) 72 69 77; J Dantorp (Swe) 69 75 74;

219 R Kakko (Fin) 72 74 73; C Carstensen (Ger) 69 72 78; G Axell (Swe) 76 68 75; J Lando Casanova (Fra) 69 74 76; M Lampert (Ger) 66 74 79; G Mulroy (RSA) 67 71 81; M Bremner (RSA) 70 69 80; R Van Der Spuy (RSA) 71 71 77; R Davies (Wal) 77 66 76; G Hurley (Irl) 74 69 76;

220 M Wiegele (Aut) 69 74 77; D Dixon (Eng) 74 67 79; P Oriol (Esp) 72 72 76; P Kopp (Ger) 75 68 77; C Bouniol (Fra) 72 73 75; B Virto (Esp) 78 67 75;

221 O Farr (Wal) 73 69 79; A Quiros (Esp) 68 74 79; M Perry (Nzl) 76 71 74; M Fenasse (Fra) 73 72 76; K Phelan (Irl) 69 74 78; M Madsen (Den) 74 68 79; D Gavins (Eng) 71 75 75; S Surry (Eng) 71 75 75; J Van Der Vaart (Ned) 71 70 80; R Finch (Eng) 73 70 78; J Hugo (RSA) 72 71 78; F Marty (Fra) 71 74 76; O Henningsson (Swe) 74 72 75; M Laier (Ger) 74 68 79;

222 P Martin Benavides (Esp) 75 71 76; A Velasco (Esp) 70 75 77;

223 C Koepka (USA) 66 76 81; B Rumford (Aus) 73 75 75; M Brown (Nzl) 72 76 75; M Crespi (Ita) 75 71 77; B Pettersson (Swe) 76 68 79;

224 P Whiteford (Sco) 76 68 80;

226 G Forrest (Sco) 74 71 81;

227 C Del Moral (Esp) 74 72 81; B Munson (USA) 75 74 78;

230 C Berardo (Fra) 73 73 84;

233 M Brier (Aut) 75 77 81; M Vibe-Hastrup (Den) 75 78 80;

RT/WD K Ferrie (Eng) 72 75 RT; J Zunic (Aus) 80 71;

DQ J Edfors (Swe).