The awakening of Eugenio López Chacarra (-2) this Saturday in India has been fabulous. He went to sleep playing the 7th hole after the suspension due to lack of light in the second round of the International Series being played at the DLF Country Club in New Delhi. His return has been triumphant. He made par on the 7th and then holed his second shot on the 8th hole, a par 5 of 566 yards. Albatross!
Chacarra hit a great drive over 330 yards and followed it with a supersonic 5-iron of 200 metres to finish in the hole. Impressive. Undoubtedly, the shot of the week. As if that wasn’t enough, don’t think the aftermath of such an imposing shot affected him immediately. On the contrary, still riding the wave of the albatross, the Madrid native signed a great birdie on the 9th. Textbook. Thus, finishing the first nine of the second round, Eugenio took the solo lead at seven under par ahead of Joaquín Niemann (-6), who did finish his round yesterday. The second round was completed this Saturday morning and now the third will be played. It will not be completed, only about two and a half hours can be played, so tomorrow will be a marathon to finish the four rounds.
Chacarra touched the sky, but then ended up asking for the time. The back nine of the DLF felt very long for him. That’s what this course is like. When it gets in your way, it’s very difficult to get out of the negative spiral. He made bogeys on 10, 11, 14, 16, and 17. Five bogeys in a sequence where he barely hit two greens and one fairway. The putter didn’t come to the rescue either, with a painful three-putt on the 17th to cap off the bad moment.
Be that as it may, everything he had gathered before, with that exceptional albatross-birdie moment, four under in two holes, has helped him stay in contention for victory. He must dedicate the little time he will have between the end of the second round and the start of the third to this. It’s time to clear his head, reset, and forget about what happened in those nine bad holes. The really important thing is that he is still with his chances of victory intact, four shots behind Niemann.
It is true that the Chilean is a standout leader with a two-shot advantage over Ollie Schniederjans (-4), Kazuki Higa (-4), and MJ Maguire (-4). It is true that he is a solid leader who will not be easy to displace. But it is also true that everything went his way yesterday. Everything that could go well went even better. He made very good putts for par, holed one from outside for eagle, saved an incredible par with the ball in a fried egg lie in a bunker… If he got through his strange day this way, we almost have a winner. But if he used up all his luck on Friday, he will have to suffer in the remaining 36 holes.
In India, anything can happen on any hole. The DLF is more of an amusement park than a golf course. You can see an albatross or get hit with a quadruple bogey. For this reason, the changes in the leaderboard are wild, and it’s impossible to predict what might happen this weekend. You would have to include in the candidates for victory even those currently at +2. There would be important names like Anirban Lahiri (-1), Bryson DeChambeau (-1), Abraham Ancer (-1), Cameron Tringale (+1), or Sebastián Muñoz (+1).
As is usually the case in these parts, the cut has been very high. Specifically, it went to +8. In this sense, hats off to Luis Masaveu (+7). The Spanish player has surpassed a heroic cut. After the +9 he made on the first day, he reacted spectacularly with a card of 70 strokes, the eighth best of the day. Only seven golfers broke 70, and barely 22 were able to play under par. Beyond making the cut, which already has extraordinary value, the most important thing is that he did it with outstanding golf. He hit eleven fairways and 16 greens. On one of the most demanding courses in the world from tee to green, the Spaniard managed to practically not miss a shot. This round should be an important boost to his confidence to grow over the weekend. Two rounds under par on Saturday and Sunday could even take him to the top 10.
Among those who missed the cut are Andy Ogletree, John Catlin, Harold Varner III, Caleb Surratt, or Kalle Samooja.
