Alexander

Bjork

The Swede put on an iron clinic today which is what he does best. He pelted 14 greens in regulation, gaining roughly 2.5 strokes on approach. He gave himself six birdie looks from inside of 12 feet and converted on four of them to offset a lone bogey. Bjork has now gained at least 3.6 strokes over the field average in four of his last 11 rounds at The Renaissance Club. It’s safe to say he likes the layout here of this Scottish design. He’s five shots off the lead set by Xander Schauffele.

The 31-year-old Swede finished with a 2-over 70 on Sunday at Jumeirah Golf Estates’ Earth Course, making two birdies over his final four holes and tying with defending champ Matthew Fitzpatrick at 14-under 274, three strokes behind winner and Race to Dubai champ Collin Morikawa. “I don’t know, just try to play,” he told media Saturday regarding his recent stretch of solid play, which included a T-4 last month at the Andalucia Masters. “Just trying to play as good as I can. I don’t know why it’s better than the rest of the season, but I feel a little bit more comfortable on the course at the moment, so I think that helps. Yeah, just try not to think about it much.” On the season, Bjork finished 12th in the Race to Dubai, making 18 cuts in 23 starts with two other top 10s -- at the Made in HimmerLand (T-6) and Scandinavian Mixed (T-7). He’s got one Euro Tour title on his resume, the 2018 Volvo China Open.

The Swede hasn’t really got going this season, missing three of his six cuts and not managing a top 25. An opening 1-under 70 didn’t hint at a big week here but he changed the script today with an early birdie barrage. The World No. 221 parred the 1st and then ticked four of the next six holes thanks to gains at 2, 4, 5 and 7. He produced a matching burst coming home, splashing red at 12, 14, 15 and 17 to card the low round of the week (by two) so far. Bjork will go into the weekend chasing a first top ten since last April’s Trophee Hassan II in Morocco.

For a man who impressed in his rookie campaign of 2017 and won in his Sophomore year of 2018, the last 15 months have been a huge disappointment. The Swede had landed just one top ten since the start of the 2019 campaign and that was back in April last year. None of his last 12 starts have been top 20 and only 1-of-19 has been (and that was T20). This year alone he has missed two cuts to start, then failed to make the top 40 and last time out managed a best so far of T27 (in Saudi Arabia). He played the course three times on the Challenge Tour (T53-T24-T7) and was T12 in this tournament in 2018.

Two years ago the Swede was in the top 20 all week on his way to T6, a highly promising effort that reflected the impressive reputation he had lain down in his rookie campaign of 2017. Last year he added T20 and his record at Jumeirah in the DP World Tour Championship hints that he likes Dubai - he was T17 in 2017 and T12 in 2018. But last year he started to tread water a little. Initially he was fine and from T2 in the British Masters in late 2018 he went 21 starts with 12 top 30s. But then he closed the year with seven failures to make the top 50 and T69 last week maintained that run.

The rise of the Swede encountered its first blip last season following a sedate rise up the levels. He was 71st on the 2014 Challenge Tour (one top ten), 40th a year later (four top tens) and seventh to graduate in 2016 (nine top tens including a win). The main tour saw a similar climb. As a rookie he was 43rd (three top tens) and then 19th as a Sophomore (six top tens including victory in the China Open). But just one top ten in 2019 saw him tumble to 98th on the Race to Dubai. That came in April and he made just two top 20s after that. Now he makes a second visit to Leopard Creek, but first since 2016 when he was T17. It would appear he is keen to get back in the groove.

The Swede shot a third-round 69 last year but that was his first sub-par score in six laps of the three courses used - St. Andrews, Kingsbarns and Carnoustie. He does have a little form in this part of the world having finished T19 in the 2018 Scottish Open while Bjork also cracked the top ten in the second tier’s Scottish Challenge in 2016. As for current form, he’s been consistent rather than spectacular over the last few months. He registered four finishes from 20th to 28th across August and early September before taking T51 at Wentworth last week. The putter could do with heating up a little but he’s a solid choice this week if you give him the benefit of the doubt on past tournament form.

In playing early-late there is no doubt that the Swede got the best draw at Green Eagle Golf Courses in Hamburg and he made good enough use of it, even if he and Bernd Wiesberger, with whom he shares sixth, are fully seven shots back of the leader Robert MacIntyre (who absolutely used the draw to his advantage). That said Bjork had to graft on this Friday. He made an early move with red at the third, but then lost shots at both the fifth and eighth. Back-to-back birdies at the ninth and tenth recovered them only for another bogey to crop up at the 13th. A final par breaker at the 15th saw him inch closer to the lead as he chases a second European Tour title.

That’s just three swings back from leader Paul Casey. Bjork kept his patience today in the windy morning conditions and was rewarded with a clean card. The Swede made par at each of the first eight holes before signing for a birdie on the par-5 9th. There are four par 5s on the back and Bjork picked up shots on two of them (11 and 18) while keeping a steady rhythm of pars going. While solid off the tee (hit 9 of 13 fairways), Bjork found just 12 greens so had to lean on his short game to keep the bogeys away. He was T53 on his one start at the course in 2017 and today’s lap matches his 69 from the second round two years ago.

The Swede has a curious record in his home country. Twice (on the Challenge Tour first and then the European Tour) he has contended all week until terrible final rounds and then on four occasions he has missed the cut. He will hope that this week, having made the weekend, he can maintain a charge throughout all four rounds. The basis for his success on Friday was a solid tee-to-green game, as he found 77.7% of the greens in regulation. He started on the back nine and made a bogey at the 12th, but he kept his card clean after that, circling the 18th on the back nine, then the second, third and ninth on the front. A winner last year in China, his ranking of 94th is not a big worry, but he’ll be aiming at the DP World Tour Championship so will not want to waste the weekend opportunity of points.