Richard

Green

The Aussie likes this event. For one thing it’s in his backyard (he has a house nearby) and for another he is not just a past winner, but that success came in 2015 when his now wife (and then a new fiancée) Marianne Skarpnord also won the women’s event. He finished T14 or better four times in his first five starts in the tournament, but more recently has struggled, missing the cut at the third round stage in both the last two years. He was T13 in the Australian Open in early December, but hasn’t made a European Tour strokeplay top ten since the 2015 Australian PGA Championship.

The Australian needs to up his game having not troubled the top 40 since his first start of the season, at the Australian PGA Championship, and therefore kicking his heels at 137th on the Race to Dubai. Crans Montana is as good a place as any to mount a late season recovery, not least because he finished T12 in 2014 and T10 12 months ago (having missed the weekend on his previous three visits). Another high finish is on the cards after a round which saw him slide into contention like the sports cars he loves to drive. On the front nine he ticked red at 4 and 8, then clicked cruise control to notch birdies at 13, 14 and 15. At which point he led the field at 10-under, but bogey at 17 cost him the sole lead at halfway. He’s landed 29 of 36 greens in regulation and needed just 54 putts; a neat combo.

His wild ride around the West Course featured an eagle-3 at No. 4, seven birdies, four bogeys and just six pars. Green raced to 4-under with a birdie-eagle-birdie burst at Nos. 3-5 but then played his next 10 holes in 2-over to drop back. The left-hander wasn’t done with yet though and birdied his final three holes to slot in just two shots behind leaders Scott Hend, YE Yang and Joost Luiten. In his joint-second lowest round at the Wentworth, Green found 7 (of 14) fairways, hit 12 greens in regulation but was only 2-for-6 in scrambling. He placed T48 in Ireland last week after missing his five previous cuts so this is another positive step for the Aussie.

Two years ago the Aussie stymied himself in Aalborg when mixing rounds of 76 and 77 with ones of 69 and 70; in the circumstances his T61 wasn’t too bad. Twelve months on he kept hold of himself to shoot 68-65-70-71 and record T6. He opened this season with another T6 in the Australian PGA Championship, but since then has struggled with 8 missed cuts in 11 stroke play starts and then a last 16 defeat in the Paul Lawrie Match Play. He spent last week caddying for his Norwegian girlfriend Marianne Skarpnord in the Olympics, so maybe he will return to the Tour inspired.

This perhaps isn’t a true links course but, like most Aussies, Green has plenty of good form in breezy, coastal conditions and showed that on the one occasion this venue was used previously on the European Tour. That came at the 2012 Sicilian Open when he carded 67-70-74-69 for T11. Green was fourth at his home Victorian Open in February and T35 in the World Super 6 Perth after that but since then he’s missed cuts in New Zealand, Morocco, Japan and Portugal. Perhaps Italy could be the scene of a return to form as he was also T16 in last September’s Italian Open.

The left-hander lost out at the first extra hole to home hero Miguel Angel Jiménez after finishing tied with the Spanish favourite and Belgian Thomas Pieters. Green is showing admirable consistency of late and has finished T39 or better in his last 11 worldwide starts. This will be his seventh appearance in the Open de España and he’s 5-for-5 since missing the cut in his first way back in 1997. Also T12 in 2012, Green has never teed it up at this week’s venue, Real Club de Golf El Prat.

His morning lap of the Bernhard Langer-designed Beckenbauer course in Germany ignited with birdies at 12 and 13 and he made further gains at 15, 17, 3 and 5 to catch Storm at the top. The Aussie southpaw couldn’t make further progress after that and closed with four straight pars. Green has posted top 10s in two of his last three European Tour starts and opened 67-64 at the KLM Open on his most recent outing before slipping to T41 on the weekend. He was solid in all areas today, finding 10 (of 13) fairways and 14 greens in regulation while getting up and down on all four occasions and taking just 26 putts.

Those second places actually came in his first two appearances in the event, one at Hilversumsche in 2004 and the other at Kennemer in 2006. It’s the latter where he’ll aim to challenge for the title again this week and he’s also managed T15 in 2009 and T30 in 2013 on this week’s coastal par 70 at Zandvoort. Green missed four cuts in a row following a T10 in May’s Irish Open but he’s found his touch again in his last two starts with another T10 at the European Masters in Switzerland and a T6 in the Made In Denmark. The left-hander sits 67th in the Race To Dubai.

The Aussie southpaw is a two-time runner-up in this event although his second place at this week’s course, Kennemer, came back in 2006. Today, he circled seven birdies against a single bogey at 8 to finish at 9-under 131. Five of Green’s par breakers came at his final eight holes. On the stats, he improved his day one tee-to-green numbers by splitting 10 (of 13) fairways and hitting 14 greens in regulation. He was also 3-for-4 in scrambling.

Tacking on today’s second circuit to his opening 68 puts the Aussie at 6-under 138 and alongside Spaniard Rafa Cabrera-Bello. The duo are one behind first-round leader Adrien Saddier, who goes out in the afternoon wave. Green circled an early birdie at the second before squaring his only bogey of the day at the third. He added a pair of par breakers at 11 and 12 and parred in. The 44-year-old arrived in Morocco on the back of a T15 in the Thailand Classic and a win in his home Victorian Open so has plenty of confidence in the tank.