A four-under 68 sees Graeme McDowell move into the top-20 heading into the weekend at the Asian Tour’s Volvo China Open at Hidden Grace Golf Club in Shenzhen.
Five birdies with just the one bogey saw the Portrush man move to -4 for the tournament, five behind Eugenio Chacarra who is living up to his pre-tournament billing as one of the hot favourites by taking the halfway lead on nine-under following a four-under-par 68 at the US$1.5 million event.
McDowell’s lone bogey came at the par-4 15th (his sixth) after back-to-back birdies on 11 and 12 had given him an ideal start. Another birdie on 17 saw him make the turn at -2, and two more birdies on two and four leave him primed for a weekend charge.
Spaniard Chacarra leads by one from China’s Zhang Huilin, who won this event in 2020, and Chen Guxin, who fired rounds of 69 and 68 respectively, while Australian Jack Thompson, winner of Asian Tour Q-School back in January, had two bogeys and a double in his last five holes to finish on -7 alongside American Andy Ogletree, the runaway leader of The International Series and Asian Tour Order of Merits, who took a step closer to wrapping up those titles early on after carding a 69.
Chacarra won the St Andrews Bay Championship in August after a record 10-hole play-off against Matt Jones from Australia for his first win as a professional in a 72-hole strokeplay event and looks like being the man to catch this weekend.
“I did a good job with my caddie on the second nine, focused shot by shot and I ended up playing well,” said the 23-year-old from Madrid, who has only been a professional for a year.
“Nine under at the start of the tournament is good. Some work to do this afternoon on the range and check a few things with my coach but happy.
“I have been struggling with my sleep. I came in here from the US with a 14-hour delay in an airport sitting down which didn’t help my body and it’s a 13-hour difference where I live. I went to bed at 9pm, woke up at 2, didn’t fall back to sleep until 4.30 and woke up at 5 to go and play so it’s just tough and something we need to get used to. I am loving China and I think it is a great country, great people and obviously great golf course.”
Thompson, enjoying a fine run of form having now made seven successive cuts, was disappointed with his poor finish but remains confident going into the weekend.
“I was probably rushing a bit because it was getting dark,” he said. “But I am playing well and looking forward to the next two days. I will learn from what happened today and come back stronger.”
Said Ogletree, who has won two International Series events this year: “I had a couple of mistakes out there, but I was able to save a couple of shots. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to birdie either one of the par fives on the front nine. So, just need to clean it up a little bit. But, in a good position heading into the weekend, and the game feels like it’s really close. I think work on some stuff this afternoon and get ready to go and try to win a golf tournament.”
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