Eugenio López Chacarra (-6) continues to progress. The last thing he did on the DP World Tour was to lift a trophy. The next was to travel to the other side of the world, deliver a card of 65 strokes and place second on his own in the Volvo China Open. Life goes on and the Madrid native shows that his triumph in the Hero Indian Open was just another step in his firm and determined path to achieve bigger things, namely, to fight for the PGA Tour card, get into the Majors and, why not, become a factor in the race for the Race to Dubai, although dethroning Rory McIlroy there already seems very complicated.
Chacarra has made a sensational start at the Enhance Anting Golf Club, the Shanghai course making its debut on the European Circuit. He started the day steadily, with a birdie on the 12th and a bogey on the 13th. However, from there his partial was six under par in 14 holes, with six birdies without error and taking advantage of only one of the three par 5s and none of the three short par 4s (4, 8, and 17). Eugenio built his splendid result by playing the longer par 4s very well, as well as the par 3s. The putter, once again, accompanied him very well all day.
Thus, after the first day of the Volvo China Open, Chacarra is three strokes behind the leader Tapio Pulkkanen (-9). The Finn was the standout of the tournament this Thursday. His 62 strokes set the course record. He made seven birdies and an eagle. Unlike Chacarra, Pulkkanen did build his huge lead by taking advantage of the theoretically more accessible holes. In the three short par 4s, his partial was four under, to which he added two under par in the par 5s. Let’s say he chose the more usual route, while Chacarra went for the less travelled one. The more difficult one.
The results of Pulkkanen and Chacarra are not a very accurate reflection of how the Robert Trent Jones Jr. course behaved this Thursday. Don’t think it was a birdie fest. In fact, third place is at -4 and -2 is on the doorstep of the top 10. PAR is currently within the cut. The Enhance Anting Golf Club defends itself well. Third place is, precisely, very crowded. Among the pursuers are Kazuma Kobori and Zhengkai Bai, the two best results of the afternoon. Ashun Wu (-3) and Haotong Li (-2) are also in the upper part. In this sense, the morning conditions were more favourable than the afternoon. As the day progressed, the greens dried out and hardened, and the wind began to blow stronger.
As for the rest of the Spaniards, Nacho Elvira (-2) and Pablo Larrazábal (-2) had a good start, although they are still far behind Chacarra. Interestingly, both signed a very similar round, with five birdies, a bogey, and a double bogey. Nacho stumbled on the most difficult hole of the course (6) and Larrazábal on the fifth most difficult (2). They also failed to exploit the easier holes (three par 5s and the three short par 4s), with a partial of -2 and -3, respectively.
A little further back is Rafa Cabrera Bello (-1) and at par are Ángel Ayora, Alex del Rey, Joel Moscatel, and Jorge Campillo. Meanwhile, Ángel Hidalgo (+2), Iván Cantero (+5), Manu Elvira (+5), and Alfredo García Heredia (+7) have to work hard to play the weekend.
