A disastrous quadruple bogey on the par-four seventh hole undermined what could have been a sensational second round for Michael Sims at PGA Tour Q School in California yesterday.

Having started the day on even par, Bermuda?s best golfer shot a three-over par 75 on the PGA West-Stadium course in La Quinta ? a score which saw him plunge down the leaderboard from tied for 24th to tied for 71st out of 153 golfers.

While he could not match Wednesday?s terrific start on the adjacent Jack Nicklaus Tournament course ? where he birdied the opening three holes ? Sims parred the first five holes yesterday and bogeyed the fifth before his confidence-shattering meltdown on the seventh.

To his enormous credit, however, the 27-year-old kept it together, birdieing the very next hole and then going on to birdie the 12th, 14th and 16th before a double-bogey at the last undermined what had been an immensely spirited recovery.

But the Canadian Tour rookie still has four rounds to make up for a disappointing day and is only four shots adrift of those tied for 27th ? inside the top 30 and ties required to earn the highly-coveted PGA Tour card.

The 50 next-best finishers will receive their Nationwide Tour cards while just by making it through to the final stage of Q School, Sims is already guaranteed a conditional pass onto the Nationwide Tour next year ? giving him direct entry into around 15 tournaments boasting prize money in the region of $500,000.

As is his custom, during Q School Sims is not speaking to the media and leaves his cell phone off so as to concentrate fully on golf. He will not be available for comment until after Sunday?s final round.

Horgan wins Gosling?s ? See Page 23