Caldwell keeps card hopes alive with hot finish in Spain
Denmark's Sebastian Friedrichsen. Picture: Getty Images
Jonathan Caldwell is praying his putter warms up after he salvaged a poor day on the greens with a birdie-birdie finish that left him inside the magical top 25 with a round to play at the Final Stage of the DP World Tour Qualifying School in Spain.
The Clandeboye star, who earned his card at the Q-School in 2019 before winning the Scandinavian Mixed in 2021, carded a one-under 70 on the Lakes Course at Infinitum in Tarragona to share 24th place with the likes of 2020 Irish Open champion John Catlin on 12-under.
Only the top 25 and ties will be awarded cards today and Caldwell, who was a disastrous five-over after six holes in Friday’s first round, is pleased to have a chance.
“Oh, very pleased considering I was five over par after my first six holes on Friday and thinking, ‘Oh, well, that's going to be a long winter’,” he said
“But yeah, I stuck at it. And like I say my game has been pretty good if I can get the putter to go, then great.
“I’ve got a great chance and if I can post a decent number probably somewhere in the 60s to mid-60s tomorrow, then I'll certainly be in the top 25.”
Tied for 20th after four rounds, Caldwell made three birdies and two bogeys in his first 11 holes yesterday before racking up a double-bogey six at the 15th.
But he dug deep and birdied the 17th and 18th to keep his card hopes alive.
“I was good tee to green and a little ropey on the greens,” Caldwell said. “I missed quite a few chances — a few five, six, seven footers — which was a bit disappointing because the putter's been good the last three days.
“It wasn't good the first day and I was good for three days and I was a little poorer today so that's a little disappointing but the game's in good enough shape if I keep hitting the shots I'm hitting, then I think I've got a good round in me.”
As for his birdie-birdie finish, he said: “It was important to finish strong. I got a terrible break on 15. I hit it just left at the flag, thinking it was going to be in the greenside bunker. But it's hit the lip of the bunker and gone into the hazard.
“And then I missed from five feet for bogey for a six. So that was disappointing after missing from a similar distance on the previous hole for birdie. But I sort of got myself together.
“And I thought, right, let's try and birdie the last three holes and I gave myself a good look at 16 and didn't make it and then finally got one at 17 and two-putted the last.”
He’s nine strokes behind Denmark’s Sebastian Friedrichsen, who shot a five-under 66 to lead by a shot from Italy’s Filippo Celli on 23-under and he’s not getting ahead of himself.
“Obviously, to get back on tour would be great,” he said. "But you know, I'm not really thinking about that, to be honest.
“I'm going to try and play one hole at a time tomorrow and just try and hit good shots and give myself chances. If the putter goes well, then great.”
Friedrichsen (21) mixed seven birdies – including five on the front nine – with just two bogeys and is now in a strong position to guarantee playing privileges on the DP World Tour.
There’s still 18 holes to go, so I’m not taking anything for granted until I hole the last putt on the last hole tomorrow,” he said. “It is very exciting. It has been a dream since I started playing golf to play on the DP World Tour, but there’s still a round to go.
“I played solid golf today. Five under par is never a bad score. I think I’ve just been really good at playing with what I’ve got.
“I’m not trying to hit shots that I don’t feel I have right now, which I think is the best way to explain how I’m playing. I’m picking good targets out there and holing some putts.”
Friedrichsen arrived in Tarragona having teed it up in the Rolex Challenge Tour Grand Final supported by The R&A last week following an impressive debut season. He finished tied 40th in the season-long Road to Mallorca Rankings, and admits it’s been a challenging two weeks to get to this point.
“I had to have a top result last week to get promoted to the DP World Tour,” he added. “I didn’t play that badly but it was a difficult week.
“I came here and just looked at last week as preparation for this. It’s been a very long week but I’ve just tried to spend as little time on the golf course as possible, to make sure I have as much energy for when I’m on the tee, and it seems to be working.”
German Freddy Schott carded a seven under par round of 64 - which included seven birdies in eight holes around the turn – to climb into third place on 21 under par, one stroke ahead of Dutchman Darius van Driel.
Australian Haydn Barron and Welshman Jack Davidson share fifth place on 18 under par, with Norwegian Kristian Krogh Johannessen, Belgian Matthis Besard, Denmark’s Jonathan Gøth-Rasmussen and New Zealand’s Sam Jones a shot further back in seventh.
The final round gets under way at 9:00am local time, with Friedrichsen, Celli and Schott teeing off at 11:17am.
DP World Tour Qualifying School Final Stage, INFINITUM Golf Club, Tarragona, Spain
334 S FRIEDRICHSEN (DEN) 67 66 68 67 66,
335 F CELLI (ITA) 68 65 66 66 70,
336 F SCHOTT (GER) 68 63 75 66 64,
337 D VAN DRIEL (NED) 70 66 70 66 65,
339 H BARRON (AUS) 67 72 70 64 66, J DAVIDSON (WAL) 67 66 70 66 70,
340 K JOHANNESSEN (NOR) 68 67 73 65 67, M BESARD (BEL) 70 67 70 65 68, S JONES (NZL) 68 69 70 65 68, J GOTH-RASMUSSEN (DEN) 69 65 68 69 69,
341 J KRUYSWIJK (RSA) 70 67 72 66 66, T LEWIS (ENG) 71 69 73 61 67, P MOOLMAN (RSA) 71 66 70 64 70,
342 A WILSON (ENG) 69 70 69 69 65, D RAVETTO (FRA) 71 70 70 65 66,
343 G PORTEOUS (ENG) 69 69 73 66 66, R ENOCH (WAL) 75 65 69 67 67, K BROBERG (SWE) 69 66 70 69 69, G BOYD (ENG) 70 65 71 67 70, N GALLETTI (USA) 71 69 67 66 70, J BERRY (AM) (ENG) 67 68 70 67 71,
344 J DE BRUYN (GER) 66 71 67 73 67, R PARATORE (ITA) 73 64 71 69 67,
345 D FICHARDT (RSA) 69 67 71 71 67, D YOUNG (SCO) 68 69 70 70 68, S BROHOLT LIND (DEN) 72 67 71 68 67, P FIGUEIREDO (POR) 70 68 70 71 66, J CATLIN (USA) 73 65 71 67 69, O LINDELL (FIN) 70 70 69 67 69, N VON DELLINGSHAUSEN (GER) 71 66 69 68 71, S GARCIA (ESP) 67 65 69 69 75, JONATHAN CALDWELL (NIR) 74 68 66 67 70,
346 F MORY (FRA) 69 68 73 68 68, A GARCIA-HEREDIA (ESP) 69 68 70 71 68, G BOURDY (FRA) 71 68 71 67 69, K APHIBARNRAT (THA) 71 70 67 69 69, J DEAN (ENG) 69 72 67 67 71, S BROWN (ENG) 72 71 70 68 65,
347 J ANDERSEN (DEN) 64 70 73 71 69, J NICHOLAS (USA) 68 71 69 69 70, H HOPEWELL (AUS) 73 65 69 69 71, J MOSCATEL NACHSHON (ESP) 70 69 70 67 71, C MCKINNEY (AUS) 71 69 71 70 66, B FOLLETT-SMITH (ZIM) 69 65 72 67 74, L VACARISAS (ESP) 72 69 68 68 70, B RUSCH (SUI) 72 72 68 68 67,
348 Q VIDAL (ESP) 70 69 71 69 69, M QUIROS (ESP) 71 70 68 67 72, R SCIOT-SIEGRIST (FRA) 74 64 73 69 68, L RUUSKA (FIN) 76 66 67 70 69, S HUTSBY (ENG) 70 72 68 71 67,
349 C BLOMSTRAND (SWE) 68 70 74 66 71, D GERMISHUYS (RSA) 72 66 69 70 72, P BOVARI (ITA) 71 66 71 71 70, M WARREN (SCO) 69 72 73 66 69, B THORNBERRY (USA) 67 72 76 65 69, R NEERGAARD-PETERSEN (DEN) 74 64 71 72 68, G MASON (ENG) 70 71 64 71 73, P PINEAU (FRA) 78 66 67 69 69, J SENEKAL (RSA) 70 72 67 72 68, O HUNDEBOLL (DEN) 72 69 66 74 68,
350 P KATICH (GER) 71 70 70 67 72, W BESSELING (NED) 73 67 72 69 69, L VAN MEIJEL (NED) 77 68 70 66 69, T SHADBOLT (ENG) 74 72 64 71 69,
351 H MAGNUS (ISL) 66 69 74 71 71, M SIMONSEN (DEN) 70 66 70 75 70, R KLEU (SUI) 68 73 69 71 70, M KIM (KOR) 73 69 66 73 70, A LEVY (FRA) 75 71 67 68 70,
352 H BROWN (DEN) 74 65 70 71 72, M GIBOUDOT (AM) (FRA) 70 69 71 70 72, M LINDBERG (SWE) 71 69 72 69 71,
353 T AIKEN (RSA) 73 68 71 69 72, R MCEVOY (ENG) 71 72 68 70 72,
354 J GUMBERG (USA) 69 69 71 70 75,
356 M COUVRA (FRA) 70 70 69 72 75, A VENTER (RSA) 71 70 70 70 75.
