By GolfDigestME.com
Darren Fichardt and Jeff Winther made late charges up the leaderboard to join Oliver Bekker at the summit after day one of the inaugural Catalunya Championship.

In-form South African Bekker had set the target at six-under with a 66 and as the wind got up in the afternoon, it did not look like he would be caught at PGA Catalunya Golf and Wellness.

But countryman Fichardt reeled off six birdies in eight holes after the turn to pass him, only for a double-bogey on the last to drop him back alongside Bekker and Dane Winther, who made four birdies in five holes from the 11th over the recently upgraded Stadium Course.

German Sebastian Heisele, China’s Li Haotong and Englishman James Morrison are one shot off the lead at five under, with home favourite and Dubai resident Adri Arnaus, French duo Julien Brun and Jean-Baptiste Gonnet, South African Hennie du Plessis and Austrian Lukas Nemecz at four-under.

The Catalunya Championship started with a special moment, when Antonio Garrido, winner of the first ever DP World Tour event, hit the honorary tee shot. The 78-year-old won the 1972 Open de España at nearby Golf de Pals and returned to Girona as part of the Tour’s 50th anniversary celebrations.

“I played solid, hit a lot of fairways – you have to out here,” said Winther. “Had lovely iron shots here and there and made a few good putts, so can’t complain.

“It’s very important just to keep your game flowing, keep thinking positive, because you have a lot of chances if you hit the fairways. The greens are still a bit soft so you can spin them out quite easily.

“The last two weeks in Spain have been, course-wise, phenomenal, the best we’ve played in a while. The greens are lovely, the fairways are really good and the rough is mean. It’s just the way it should be, in my opinion.

Fichardt added: “I played really solid, I know is a tough golf course, you have to keep the ball in play off the tee and make sure you get chances. The front nine I just really played solid, I made two good birdies and then I putted great in the back nine, which was nice. Managed to hole really good putts, managed to get momentum and unfortunately didn’t do so well in the last one but if you gave me a 66 before I started I would have taken it.

Garrido was feeing the pressure as he stepped on to the first tee.

“I feel different, I was less nervous then (winning in 1972) than I am now,” he admitted. “In those moments you are not thinking about the future in 50 years, at that moment you are in another moment of life, and I could never think that that could lead us to this moment (celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Tour).

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By Kent Gray
Darren Fichardt suspects he’ll need every ounce of the experience garnered from a five-win European Tour career to join an illustrious list of two-time winners of the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters on Sunday.

The 45-year-old South African will take a one-stroke buffer into the final round of the $1.5 million event at Education City Golf Club after ascending to the summit of the leaderboard with a topsy-turvy, windswept 70 on Saturday.

On the cusp of his first European Tour win since the 2017 Joburg Open and second Mother of Pearl trophy in 2003, Fichardt (-7) will be joined in the final three-ball by Englishman Jack Senior (-6) and India’s Gaganjeet Bhullar (-5).

The 11.03am trio will be especially mindful of the three-ball directly ahead of them: three-time European Tour winner and 2014 Ryder Cup clincher Jamie Donaldson, inaugural Golf in Dubai Championship winner Antonie Rozner and Dane Joachim. B Hansen who won the Joburg Open in November.

Mind you, If Doha dishes up more of the wild and windy conditions that have marked the first three days of the resumption of the European Tour season, Fichardt won’t be so focused on other names, rather his own game. He knows how one controls the uncontrollable, especially in the wind, will determine whether he joins Adam Scott, Paul Lawrie and Branden Grace as a two-time Qatar champion.

“It’s tough [out there] because you can hit a great putt or shot and still end in disaster,” Fichardt said of the enduring challenge of the Jose Maria Olazabal-designed Education City G.C.

“You have to commit to whatever you are going to do, stick through with it and where the ball went, it went. Not put too much thought into it or get down on myself.

“I’m doing my best and if I’m making a big number then I’m making a big number, that’s just how it is.  I think the guys who are trying to win their first event, they are trying to win. If you’ve won a few times you know it’s about doing the best you can do.

“The sun shines on everyone, if it’s your week, it’s your week. It’s about doing the best you can do. Tomorrow will be quite a fight. We’ll take whatever comes our way and see what happens.

Fichardt’s ability to park the bad shots was critical in the third round peppered with five birdies, two bogeys and a double-bogey on the par-5 13th.

Richard Heathcote/Getty Images
Fichardt and his wife/caddie Natasha during Saturday’s third round.

“When I started today I couldn’t get the pace right, the greens sped up significantly with the wind. I was three-whacking like it was going out of fashion, on every green. Luckily I figured my swing out on the range before I teed off. I said to my wife [and caddie Natasha] to give ourselves opportunities and to try and get our first putt past the hole. When they started dropping I started to get a nice rhythm and a nice flow.

“Then I got to the par-five 13 – that’s a hell of a par five, plus wind. I walked off there making a double and felt a bit out of sorts. I three-whacked the next green. I tried to gather my thoughts and realise it’s tough out there, everyone was struggling and to try and finish with a couple of pars coming home – luckily I got two birdies.”

Bhullar is chasing a second European Tour title after capturing the 2018 Fiji International while Senior, also 32, is seeking a maiden main tour title to go with two Challenge Tour wins.

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With the vast majority of the European Tour’s best already decamped to Florida, the qualifiers were likely to be journeymen at best. And so it proved.

Courtesy of his victory over the 54 holes that were possible between torrential downpours, including one that delayed play for two hours on the final day, Darren Fichardt of South Africa will tee it up at Royal Birkdale in July.

The 41-year-old from Pretoria was 15-under-par over the East and West courses at the Royal Johannesburg & Kensington Golf Club, one stroke better than Wales’ Stuart Manley and England’s Paul Waring, who also earned tickets to Birkdale.

It was Fichardt’s fifth European Tour win and his first since the 2013 Africa Open. After a bogey on the 17th hole Sunday, his clinching birdie on the par-5 18th—courtesy of a beautifully judged chip-and-run to 18 inches—broke a tie with his closest pursuers after Waring had lipped out a 15-foot birdie attempt.

Fichardt, whose previous best finish this season was T-26 at the South African Open, admitted feeling inordinately nervous over the last short putt.

“I haven’t tried that putter and grip under pressure before, so you don’t know how badly it could go,” he said, referring to changes he made at the start of the event.

“The form I have been having the last couple of months has been horrendous, but I decided at the beginning of the year that I was going to play as many tournaments as I can and just get my game right. And it worked out.”  – John Huggan

Editor’s note: Fichardt gained 187,697 points and made a stunning leap in the European Tour’s Race to Dubai standings, moving from 107th to 18^th position as he targets a return to the season-ending DP World Tour Championship at Jumeirah Golf Estates from November 16-19, for the first time since 2014.

Top 10 Race to Dubai Rankings after the Joburg Open

POSITION        NAME                                                                                                  COUNTRY                 POINTS

The post Fichardt Storms To <br> Joburg Open Title appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

It means the South Africa will not chase a Mother of Pearl trophy hat-trick as billed.

“You know it is a pity, I would have loved to go there,” Grace said.

“I’m going to head back, there’s a little bit more important things on the table I have to take care of. It’s something she’s planned a long time ago and this is the only dates they could have done.

“So she’s taken a lot on her table and pushed it back for me and I think it’s time I did the same for her.”

Grace’s withdrawal is a blow but a strong field has still assembled at Doha Golf Club.

After making a strong start to the season by finishing in a tie for fourth in Abu Dhabi last week, Martin Kaymer  is making his first return to Doha Golf Club since 2014, The European Tour reports.

The German made seven straight appearances at the tournament from 2008 and enjoyed his best finishes in 2012 and 2013, tying for ninth in successive years. 

Kaymer is one of four players in the field from Europe’s 2016 Ryder Cup team, along with Chris Wood, Andy Sullivan and desert specialist Rafa Cabrera Bello, while 2018 captain Thomas Bjørn also makes the short journey to Qatar from Abu Dhabi. 

Bjørn and Wood were champions in 2011 and 2013 respectively, and are joined by five other past winners: Darren Fichardt (2003), Ernie Els (2005), Alvaro Quiros (2009), Robert Karlsson (2010) and two-time winner Paul Lawrie (1999 and 2012). 

World No.10 Alex Noren, a four time winner in 2016, is out to back up his top 10 finish in Abu Dhabi last week while former U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell is set to get his 2017 European Tour campaign underway. 

Photograph by Getty Images

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