Caldwell and Kearney lead Irish in Tenerife; McKibbin debuts with 70
Thorbjørn Olesen. Picture: Getty Images
Jonny Caldwell shrugged off two closing bogeys as he continued his good form on the Canary Islands swing and carded a five-under 66 that left him four shots behind Dane Thorbjørn Olesen in the Tenerife Open.
As Niall Kearney shot 69 and Tom McKibbin made four birdies in a 70 on his professional debut, Olesen carded a nine-under 62 for a one-shot lead at Golf Costa Adeje, setting a new course record.
It was back-to-back records for the five-time European Tour winner, who shot a nine-under-par second round of 61 on the way to a tied fifth place at last week's Gran Canaria Lopesan Open.
South Africa’s Higgo, who is aiming to pick up his third European Tour win, and his second in successive weeks, shot an eight-under-par round of 63 to sit in tied second place alongside fellow South African Dean Burmester, Sweden's Alexander Björk and American John Catlin.
It could have been so much better for Catlin, who was ten under par through 16 holes, but a bogey-bogey finish ended his chance of recording only the second round of 59 in European Tour history.
It was a similar day for Caldwell, who also bogeyed the eighth and ninth for his 66.
“What pleased me most was just my ball striking really,” Caldwell said. “I drove the ball really well, hit a lot of greens, gave myself a lot of chances and managed to make some putts. As you say, it was a bit disappointing the last two holes.”
After finishing tied 21st in Gran Canaria, Caldwell looks at home on the Canary Islands but he insists he’s just playing well.
“It’s not so much the courses, I am just finding my game a little bit after a bit of a struggle early on this season,” he said. :I just feel I am getting more comfortable with my ball striking at the minute so if I continue to drive it straight, I don’t think there are many courses that I can score well on.”
The Clandeboye man (36) is back on tour after a long hiatus but he believes he’s now a more mature player than the rookie who lost his card in 2009.
“I think I just got a little bit more maturity,” he said. “In 2009 I came right out of amateur golf straight into the deep end and I didn’t really know how to conduct myself and really didn’t know what it was all about.
“I learned a lot from that year and played a lot of mini-tour stuff and a lot of Challenge Tour after that and learned by just travelling and playing tournaments.”
Kearney made five birdies in a two-under 69 to share 55th with teenager McKibbin (18) tied 86th after making four birdies, a bogey and a double-bogey in a 70.
“It was a bit of a battle out there and I didn’t hit the ball at my best but I ground it out and managed to finish under par which was a nice way to end the day,” said McKibbin, who birdied the short 14th and the par-five 18th and first to get to three-under, then followed a double-bogey seven at the trick third with a birdie two at the fifth before dropping another shot at the sixth.
“The conditions were nice over our front nine but we then had a bit of rain around our 12th hole and it also got windier and also colder, so it was a lot tougher only for it to be sunny and calm at the end.
“It’s important to have a good friend on the bag especially now when we’re in the bubble and we can’t really go out and socialise as much as we normally would.”
“The good aspect about my game today was my short game as that was on fire and while I didn’t hit it at my best, the wedges and putter saved me.”
Paul Dunne (28) is tied 116th after carding a one-over 72 with close friend Jack Hume, his former Walker Cup teammate, on his bag.
“It’s important to have a good friend on the bag especially now when we’re in the bubble and we can’t really go out and socialise as much as we normally would,” said Dunne, who had Hume on his bag in Austria and last week in Gran Canaria.
“That’s the reason he’s coming out and I think he’s going to do the rest of the year for me. We are very close, we played a lot of amateur golf together and we lived together for a year as well when we turned pro. So it’s good to have a good friend on the bag and he’s good fun.”
Dunne won the British Masters in 2017, holding off a charging Rory McIlroy at Close House. But he does not believe that will give him an advantage at The Belfry in two weeks.
“If it was going back to Close House where I have good memories and good feels there it might,” he said. “The Belfry I don’t know so well. It’s a great track but it’s very very different. When you see the trophy you know you won it before but I’m just trying to get my game back in a good place first.”
Cormac Sharvin, another teammate of Dunne and Hume in the 2015 Walker Cup, made two birdies, two bogeys and a double-bogey in a two-over 73.
Eduard Rousaud is the leading Spanish player at seven under par, playing in just his second European Tour event as a professional, with the 20-year-old former world amateur number two joined at two shots off the lead by Robin Sciot-Siegrist of France, Finland's Kalle Samooja and German Nicolai von Dellingshausen.
Joost Luiten of the Netherlands is one of seven players one shot further back, recording his second hole in one in two weeks on the par-three second hole.
Thorbjørn Olesen
"I think the first nine holes was the best putting display I've shown for a very long time -- I just had to look at it and it went in. That was a great start to a round then I played solid on the back nine and was really happy to finish with a birdie on the last after that bogey on eight. It was definitely the putting that was the main thing.
"I was very happy to finish top five (last week), that was amazing. I haven't been that high on a leaderboard for a very long time; being in contention again was a great feeling and something I've missed very much for the last few years.
"I don't set high expectations now. I found something last week and was making birdies. Today my putting was great and no wind to start made it a bit easier. "
John Catlin
"I got off to a really nice start on my front nine, the back nine. I made five birdies in six holes, I think my longest putt was four feet. It started to get really special around the fifth. I felt confident in my game. It was unfortunate to finish the way I did, but I'll take the positives. We have three more days so we will see where everything settles.\"It's hard not to have 59 in your mind. You just keep pushing forward. I was still able to execute good golf shots. I had some good chances coming down there on both the par threes. It's the first real opportunity I've had at a tournament to shoot 59. I didn't get it done this time, but who knows what's going to happen in the future."
Garrick Higgo
"I kept it going from last week. Good scoring straight into today -- four-under through four. This game is hard, sometimes it's hard. I'm just trying to ride the wave.
"It's similar grass (to last week's course), although this is a bit more similar to what we play on back home (in South Africa). The greens are fast -- I like a bit of spice. My form is good so I am just trying to do the same things."
Tenerife Open, Golf Costa Adeje, Tenerife (Par 71)
62 T Olesen (Den),
63 D Burmester (RSA), A Bjork (Swe), G Higgo (RSA), J Catlin (USA),
64 N Von Dellingshausen (Ger), E Rousaud (Esp), R Sciot-Siegrist (Fra), K Samooja (Fin),
65 L Canter (Eng), J Luiten (Ned), T Tree (Eng), A Arnaus (Esp), M Kawamura (Jpn), P Angles (Esp),
66 S Hend (Aus), Jonathan Caldwell (Nir), P Larrazábal (Esp), S Garcia Rodriguez (Esp), L De Jager (Rsa), J Harding (Rsa), M Antcliff (Aus), J Suri (USA),
67 J Smith (Eng), E De La Riva (Esp), P Waring (Eng), S Valimaki (Fin), A Levy (Fra), Y Chang (Kor), S Crocker (USA), M Southgate (Eng), S Kim (USA), M Schneider (Ger), N Bertasio (Ita), D Coupland (Eng), J Lagergren (Swe), A Johnston (Eng),
68 J Walters (RSA), J Morrison (Eng), A Cañizares (Esp), M Jordan (Eng), E Pepperell (Eng), D Van Driel (Ned), M Schwab (Aut), F Laporta (Ita), G Forrest (Sco), A Meronk (Pol), R Mansell (Eng), M Korhonen (Fin), A Chesters (Eng), H Porteous (RSA), B Hebert (Fra), K Broberg (Swe), J Mcleod (Aus),
69 S Fernandez (Esp), E Molinari (Ita), N Hojgaard (Den), A Garcia-heredia (Esp), D Law (Sco), S Jamieson (Sco), A Otaegui (Esp), R Fisher (Eng), Niall Kearney (Irl), A Pavan (Ita), J Kaske (Fin), T Pulkkanen (Fin), R Jacquelin (Fra), R Bland (Eng), O Farr (Wal), J Senior (Eng), M Ford (Eng), S Heisele (Ger), J Winther (Den), J Donaldson (Wal), J Hansen (Den), S Sharma (Ind), J Guerrier (Fra), R Ramsay (Sco), S Yongcharoenchai (Tha), A Cockerill (Can), P Oriol (Esp), P Hanson (Swe), L Van Meijel (Ned), M Schmitt (Ger), B Ritthammer (Ger),
70 M Pavon (Fra), Tom Mckibbin (Nir), J Veerman (USA), R Santos (Por), A Wu (Chn), S Chawrasia (Ind), C Wood (Eng), B Evans (Eng), S Soderberg (Swe), A Del Rey (Esp), B Henson (USA), J Campillo (Esp), G Fernandez-Castaño (Esp), G Migliozzi (Ita), C Pigem (Esp), G Porteous (Eng), C Sordet (Fra),
71 Z Lombard (RSA), V Dubuisson (Fra), M Armitage (Eng), R Paratore (Ita), D Whitnell (Eng), C Shinkwin (Eng), R Karlberg (Swe), L Gagli (Ita), C Syme (Sco), F Zanotti (Par), C Hill (Sco), J Lima (Por), L Claverie (Esp),
72 Paul Dunne (Irl), K Kitayama (USA), R Enoch (Wal), N Elvira (Esp), T Gandy (Imn), L Johnston (Sco), A Hernandez Cabezuela (Am) (Esp), A Saddier (Fra), P Figueiredo (Por), M Kieffer (Ger), O Lieser (Cze), A Quiros (Esp), G Havret (Fra), E Walker (Sco), B Virto (Esp),
73 O Wilson (Eng), S Del Val (Esp), O Fisher (Eng), J Stalter (Fra), R Roussel (Fra), Cormac Sharvin (Nir),
74 S Tiley (Eng), D Drysdale (Sco), G Bhullar (Ind), I Cantero Gutierrez (Esp),
75 L Bjerregaard (Den), A Sandhu (Ind), D Horsey (Eng), R Mcgowan (Eng), R McEvoy (Eng),
76 L Slattery (Eng),
77 M Lorenzo-vera (Fra), B Poke (Den), R Langasque (Fra),
78 A Rozner (Fra),
79 T Koivisto (USA)
