England’s Paul Waring and Scotsman Stephen Gallacher share the halfway lead at the 2022 ACCIONA Open de España presented by Madrid.
Waring had been at the top of the leaderboard on his own for most of Friday after matching the low round of the week – a sizzling eight-under-par 63 with ten birdies and two bogeys.
Gallacher, a four-time DP World Tour winner, joined Waring on 12 under after a second straight 65 which included seven birdies and just the one dropped shot at Club de Campo Villa de Madrid.
Scot David Drysdale is one shot behind alongside South African Hennie Du Plessis after they both went round in 66, while Major Champion and home favourite Jon Rahm leads the chasing pack at ten under par alongside Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat, Dutchman Darius van Driel, Australia’s Min Woo Lee and Frenchman Matthieu Pavon.
World Number Six Rahm is looking to equal the late Seve Ballesteros’ haul of three victories at his home open (1981, 1985 and 1995) this week.
Player quotes
Paul Waring: “I hit some alright shots. I actually got the putter quite hot which is not like me at all really, so it was nice to hole a few long ones coming in and keep that momentum I had going during the round, so happy with that finish definitely.
I really enjoy this golf course, it suits me. I am staying aggressive with driver and it’s giving me a lot of chances with wedges, which is one of the strong parts of my game. So it’s giving me a lot of chances and then I capitalised with the putter which is ideal really.”
Stephen Gallacher: “It’s funny. I played pretty good the week before going into the Dunhill and then I worked hard with my coach and just found something at the Dunhill, where I played well in practice and all the way through. And I carried it on here, playing well in the pro-am and then for the first two days as well.
“You are always working to improve and we just worked on my backswing. It’s also been a different way of thinking as I’ve been working with my psychologist as well, just freeing myself up and just swinging at it.
“Halfway, you’ve done not a bad job and now you need to do the same again. You’ve got some great players playing. The weather has been perfect, and the course is in unbelievable condition, so you can shoot a low score. We’ll just see what happens. If I can play the same over the weekend, who knows.”
David Drysdale: “Yeah, very happy. There’s been some mixed stuff from tee to green and some very good putting. I three-putted the last, which was a bit of a shame as that was my first dropped shot in two days. But I’m very pleased to be in that position heading into the weekend.
“My wife wasn’t feeling well yesterday morning, but she was keen to caddie. She was sick three times on the way round, which was a shame, so she did well to get round. Today I had a local lad who was the club champion here a couple of years ago and he helped me round today, but hopefully fingers crossed Vicky will be back in action tomorrow.
“Listen, there are some low scores out there. The position I’m in this season, I just have to try and make as many birdies as I can, and this golf course is going to give you a lot of opportunities.”
Jon Rahm: “I played what I could say 11 uncomfortable holes and then I played really good golf on the last seven. From 12 on I played wonderful, it was very very enjoyable. It seems to be the part of the golf course that I score on more often so I hope to get a little bit better on the front nine tomorrow.
“Winning, it is the only motivator. It is very easy to think about circumstances outside of myself, those can be tricky to manage if you can get out of it. I just have to focus on me, keep doing what I am doing, and take one shot at a time.”
