Spanish Open: Eugenio Chacarra defies fractured toe to stay in touch of the lead
Former LIV Golf recruit Eugenio Chacarra is two strokes behind the lead at the halfway stage of his national open.
Former LIV Golf pro Eugenio Chacarra is only two shots off the pace at the halfway stage of the Spanish Open.
Chacarra, who is very much on Luke Donald's radar to make the 2027 European Ryder Cup team, shared the lead with Scottish pair Connor Syme and Grant Forrest after 18 holes at Real Club de Campo Villa de Madrid after firing a 5-under 66.
The 26-year-old's round was all the more impressive given he is playing this week with a broken toe and was mulling withdrawing.
He battled through the discomfort on Friday though, making three birdies from the 14th to card a 2-under 69 and reach 7-under overall, two behind the aforementioned Forrest.
Rank | Player name | Score |
1 | Grant Forrest | -9 |
T2 | Joel Girrbach | -8 |
T2 | Connor Syme | -8 |
T4 | Joseph Dean | -7 |
T4 | Eugenio Lopez-Chacarra | -7 |
T6 | Jacob Skov Olesen | -6 |
T6 | Daniel Hillier | -6 |
T6 | Martin Couvra | -6 |
T6 | Jeff Winther | -6 |
T6 | Victor Perez | -6 |
T11 | Romain Langasque | -5 |
T11 | Angel Ayora | -5 |
T13 | Sam Bairstow | -4 |
T13 | Matthew Jordan | -4 |
T13 | Sergio Garcia | -4 |
T13 | Adrian Otaegui | -4 |
T13 | Niklas Noergaard | -4 |
T13 | Stefano Mazzoli | -4 |
T13 | Hennie Du Plessis | -4 |
T13 | Francesco Molinari | -4 |
Several big names missed the cut, including Patrick Reed, Bubba Watson, Justin Rose, Tyrrell Hatton and Nicolai Hojgaard.
Reed's missed cut is particularly costly as the former Masters champion will miss out on a golden opportunity to extend his lead over Rory McIlroy in the Race to Dubai.
LIV Golf recruits Tom McKibbin, Adrian Meronk, Elvis Smylie and Thomas Detry will also have the weekend off.
Forrest told Sky Sports: "It was a good, really good score in the end.
"You know, I didn't have my best stuff on our first five or six holes, but made a couple of really nice par saves to keep the momentum going, and then, yeah, I just managed to make quite a few birdies.
"Started driving it well the last 12 holes and yeah, delighted with four under.
"I probably didn't play quite as well as yesterday."
Asked how he is going to handle the weekend, he added: "I think I'm just going to keep plugging away and doing my best.
"Obviously, I had a couple of good scores there [over past two days].
"It's hard to know when a day like Thursday will come when you shoot 5-under for nine holes and you fly up the board, or today was a bit more plodding along and then a couple came towards the end.
"I'm just going to keep the foot down."
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