Andy Sullivan is planning on putting his name firmly into the fray for The 2016 Ryder Cup after hitting the front at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship in the presence of the European captain Darren Clarke.
The 28 year old Englishman played alongside the Northern Irish former Open Champion for the first two rounds and he carded five under par 67 to take the clubhouse lead on ten under par before play was suspended overnight due to a lack of light – following an early morning fog delay of two hours and 45 minutes.
First round leader Bryson DeChambeau managed to negotiate his first nine holes in one under par to move to a nine under total before play was halted. The American amateur began his round at the tenth ate nd showed no sign of nerves as he opened with a birdie, following that with another at the 12th before suffering a three-putt bogey at the 18th.
Among the movers and shakers to go low before the klaxons were sounded were Spain’s Rafa Cabrera-Bello (67) and Joost Luiten of the Netherlands (68), who are both three shots off the pace on seven under par. Dane Thomas Bjørn joined them in tied third, having completed 11 holes of his second round in three under.
Andy Sullivan
“I feel totally different coming into this tournament. This time last year, I had already won but still felt this tournament of this magnitude with the players, I knew that I would have to go some to do it.
“Coming in this year, I know if I bring any A Game, I’m going to have a good chance at being up there now. It’s nice to do that. To go out there and actually put your A Game to the test is great.
“I know that I’ve got to go out and play just as well as I did last year. The Ryder Cup is definitely a goal of mine, but there are a lot of good guys and a lot of guys that are not in that rankings yet that will be pushing hard to get in it. So I know that I’ve got to keep my foot to the gas and try to keep pushing on.”
Bryson DeChambeau
“I had adrenaline going, that’s for certain. But there’s no anxiety, there’s no nerves, nothing like that. It doesn’t matter what the outcome is. I just made bogey on one of the easier holes on the golf course but I’m not worried about it. I made one bogey yesterday and a bogey today. Hopefully that will be the last one.”
Rafa Cabrera-Bello
“I thought I played really good today. It was good to follow up yesterday’s positive round. It was a long break for me after Christmas. You never know what to expect since you haven’t played for so long. I felt good out there. I was pretty calm yesterday and today, waiting for my chances and I played some great golf.”
