The most contagious smile on the DP World Tour is back. Or at least it seems so. Andrew Johnston‘s (-12) thumb is up again. He has signed a card of 63 strokes, a course record, in the second round of the D+D Real Czech Masters and has placed himself in second position, just one stroke behind David Ravetto (-13). The Frenchman matched the record that the Englishman had set just a few minutes earlier.
It is Johnston’s best round in over three years, specifically since the second round of the Canary Islands Championship that took place in Costa Adeje, Tenerife, and ended with the victory of Garrick Higgo. The ‘Beefmania’ is back.
It is curious that the English golfer is recovering his best golf just the year in which the Open Championship has returned to Royal Troon. The previous visit was in 2016, shortly after Beef won the Spanish Open in Valderrama. Even today Johnston assures that that Open, where he finished eighth, was the best week of his life.
Beef reached number 74 in the world ranking. A great player, although his popularity was above his birdies. Overwhelmed in part by the enormous attention he generated and heavily burdened by physical problems, especially a thumb injury and some back ailments, Johnston gradually disappeared from the spotlight. He even considered continuing in professional golf. Between 2022 and 2024 he has only played ten tournaments. Czech Republic is the eleventh.
However, there does seem to be a positive evolution in his game. This year he has only made three cuts in nine tournaments, but two of them have been in Italy and Germany, this very summer. Beef assures that he is recovering his best version and that today basically the difference has been that the putts have started to fall. We will see where the weekend takes him. It is certainly a return welcomed by the fans.
As for the Spaniards, the accounts are simple. It is not being the best week of the year, but it can still be fixed. Adri Arnaus (-6), Nacho Elvira (-6), Ángel Hidalgo (-5) and Santi Tarrio (-4) will need to match the course record or be very close to give themselves a chance on Sunday. Both Elvira and Hidalgo have delivered two very good cards of 68 strokes, including Nacho’s fabulous eagle on hole 4, hitting a shot 220 meters from the hole and sinking a putt of just under three meters.
Tied with Beef in second place in the tournament are Jesper Svensson (-12) and Richie Ramsay (-12) and one stroke behind are Brandon Robinson Thompson (-11) and Espen Kofstad (-11).
