Edoardo Molinari at the PMG Promoted Kazakhstan Open
Molinari shows why he is the main man
Edoardo Molinari showed why he is currently the Challenge Tour Number One with a second successive round of 67 to grab a share of the lead with the English duo of Gary Boyd and Andrew Marshall on day two of the Kazakhstan Open.
"...It was probably my best round of the year" Edoardo Molinari
The Italian, who won the Piemonte Open in his homeland earlier this year and has only missed one cut all season, seems set to extend his lead at the top of the Challenge Tour Rankings after moving to ten under par and seeing his three closest rivals, Belgium’s Nicolas Colsaerts and the English duo of Andrew Butterfield and Richard McEvoy, all miss the cut.
Molinari had to return to Zhailjau Golf Resort in Almaty this morning in order to complete his opening round, which had been affected by rain, and promptly picked up where he left off yesterday with two birdies in his closing three holes.
A further seven birdies in his second round saw the Turin resident set the benchmark on ten under par, which was matched late in the day by overnight leader Boyd and his compatriot Marshall, who equalled the course record Boyd had set with a round of 63 on the opening day.
Molinari said: “I played very well today, and finally holed some putts. I’ve been putting well for the past two or three weeks, and today was better still. But today I didn’t play as well as I did yesterday – the conditions were so tough, they must’ve added at least three shots to everyone’s score. It was probably my best round of the year, in the circumstances. It was raining so hard at times that you could’ve easily played your way out of the tournament, so I’m very happy to be leading the tournament.
“My aim at the start of the week was to try to extend my advantage at the top of the Rankings. A good finish here would obviously boost my chances of finishing the year as the Number One. It would be the biggest achievement of my professional career if I could win the Rankings. But it’s not going to be easy, because there are a lot of good players behind me.”
One of them is Boyd, who is currently tenth in the Rankings but could leap right into the reckoning if he were to collect the €64,000 first prize. Boyd was unable to reproduce his scintillating strokeplay of the opening day, but still professed himself pleased with a battling round of 71 – despite a bogey on his last hole, where his ball found a watery grave.
He said: “I didn’t drive the ball as well as I did yesterday, and when you find the rough it’s so easy to make bogeys out there – so sometimes you’re just trying to keep the double bogeys off your card. But I battled away and had a good finish with the eagle on the sixth hole and a birdie on the eighth, although the bogey on the ninth left a bit of a bad taste in the mouth. But there’s still two more rounds to go, and I’m hoping I’ve got my bad day out the way.
“It’s always hard to follow up a low score with another one, because you tend to get more frustrated when things aren’t going your way. But I’m going to work on my driving on the range for half an hour, and hopefully iron out the creases. Tomorrow it’s just about finding the fairways and greens, then hopefully that’ll give me a chance going into Sunday.”
Boyd’s compatriot Marshall, with whom he shared dinner after the opening round, is also hopeful of a big weekend, having failed to capitalise on some promising positions throughout the season.
Marshall has just missed one cut all season, but has also only managed one top ten finish all year. But if he can continue his sparkling form on the greens – his second round featured a mere 22 putts – there is every chance Marshall could record his maiden Challenge Tour title.
He said: “I only had ten putts on the front nine, and 12 on the back nine. If I could do that every week, I’d be a millionaire! It always comes down to the putting, and that’s what’s left me down this year. But today it just felt easy. To shoot a 63 was awesome – I think the last time was at the Austrian Open in 2001. So I’ve had to wait a while.
“But there’s 36 holes left, so if I don’t follow it up it’ll count for nothing. My aim at the start of the week was to finish in the top three here, because that should guarantee me my card for next season. That hasn’t changed. There’s no way I’m going to shoot 63 again, but if I can shoot 68 on the next two days, I’ll have half a chance.”
Ireland’s Simon Thornton and Scotland’s Peter Whiteford are tied for fourth place on nine under par after recording respective rounds of 66 and 67.
