Veteran Aussie touring professional Nick O’Hern has hailed the mental fortitude of newly-minted professional David Micheluzzi to shoot 63 in the third round of the European Tour Q School in Spain and keep his dream of a 2020 tour card alive.

With one round remaining before the four-round cut of the six-round torture test considered the most demanding week in golf, seven Australians sit within the projected cut-line, Queensland’s Jake McLeod the best positioned in a tie for fifth.

The fact that Micheluzzi is one of the seven on the right side of the cut line is testament to a young player ranked as high as No.2 in the world in the amateur standings.

A second round of 4-over 75 saw Micheluzzi drop to 6-over through 36 holes but any negatives were cast aside courtesy of an 8-under 63 at Lumine Golf Club’s Lakes Course including 5-under 30 on his back nine.

That places him 62nd with 18 holes to play before the cut, and reminded O’Hern of his own European Tour Q School miracle.

O’Hern holed a bunker shot for eagle on his final hole to make the four-round cut in 1998 and told the PGA Golf Club of his admiration for what Micheluzzi was able to do.

“He shot 63 overnight to make the four-round cut on the number, which is insane,” O’Hern said in this week’s PGA Golf Club podcast.

“He was 6-over and the cut was going to be 2-under and he shot 8-under par; that’s an amazing feat in itself.

“I actually did something similar back in the late ’90s when I went to European Q School.

“I came to my last hole on the fourth round and to make birdie to make the cut in the six-round event and make it through.

“I was in a greenside bunker and I actually holed it for eagle so I scraped through by one.

“That confidence went on from there and I got my card.”

Dimi Papadatos, Jordan Zunic, Deyen Lawson, Zach Murray and Blake Windred also sit within the cut line and O’Hern said the challenge for each of them is not to focus on what’s at stake but the shot at hand.

“The entire week is one of the most physically and mentally draining weeks that you’ll ever have in your life,” O’Hern said.

“Fortunately, in Europe I only went through it once and when I got through I thought it wasn’t that bad but you later realise, Wow, I just don’t want to go through that again.

“I’ve been watching the scores and there are half a dozen Aussie guys (inside the cut line). Jake McLeod is doing well, he’s up there in the top 10, a young fella I’ve helped out Jordan Zunic just made it through which is great.

“It’s a very tricky proposition because there’s no denying it. The result is there, you know what you’re playing for, so how do you take that from the front of your mind and put it to the back of the mind?

“That’s why it’s mentally draining because in a way you’re constantly reminding yourself to forget about that. Process, process, process, the whole way.

“The guys that can do that best, they’re the ones that end up getting their cards at the end of the week.

“If it’s constantly at the front of your mind then you’re going to struggle all week.”