Eugenio Chacarra Plays Through Fractured Toe to Share Spanish Open Lead

• Eugenio Chacarra, Connor Syme and Grant Forrest share the lead on after round one of the Open de España.
• Chacarra carded a 66 containing two eagles while playing with a fractured toe.
• Daniel Hillier won a BMW iX5 with a hole-in-one at the 17th and sits one shot back.

Eugenio Chacarra signed for a 5-under-par 66 at Real Club de Campo Villa de Madrid on Thursday, set the clubhouse target and then cast doubt on whether he will be back on the tee for round two.

The 26-year-old fractured a toe last week in the United States. The cause was hardly heroic: a midnight trip for a glass of water. He was determined to play his national open regardless, one of 20 Spaniards in the field, and two eagles carried him to a share of the first-round lead. Scotland’s Connor Syme and Grant Forrest later joined him there.

The swing held up. The walking did not.

“It’s been tough,” Chacarra said. “I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow, but obviously I need to take care of myself.

“Obviously, I had a good round, but just how I feel physically, it’s not great. I don’t know, it’s just hard. It’s a struggle.

“It doesn’t really hurt when I’m swinging. That’s the only good thing. It’s why I can still make a score, but it’s just been really tough to walk.

“I made it through today but the pain I had [over] the last holes walking is something that I don’t know if it’s worth it because I’ve got a lot to play for in the next couple of weeks.

“So, I’ll just sit down with the team and see what we decide because it was tough.”

What’s at stake?

Plenty. Chacarra has been one of the stories of the DP World Tour season, winning the national opens of the Netherlands and Italy over back-to-back starts in the summer. The Italian Open victory in Turin made him a three-time DP World Tour winner and sent him to Royal Birkdale for his Open debut.

He arrived in Madrid third in the Race to Dubai Rankings. Patrick Reed has led them since February, with Rory McIlroy second. A Chacarra win this week, combined with a missed cut for Reed, could put the Spaniard top of the pile in the chase for the Harry Vardon Trophy.

McIlroy, who is bidding for a record-equalling eighth European Number One title, is due back at next week’s DP World India Championship. Two regular-season events remain before the DP World Tour Play-Offs in the United Arab Emirates next month. That leaves Chacarra weighing a home title against the risk of further damage to the toe ahead of the run-in.

Two eagles, four bogeys

Starting on the 10th, Chacarra bogeyed the 12th before an eagle at the par-5 14th got him into red figures. A birdie at the 18th took him to the turn in 2-under.

Birdies at the 2nd and 4th moved him to 4-under. He handed both back straight away with bogeys at the 5th and 6th. Then came the shot of his day, an approach to four feet at the par-5 7th for his second eagle. He closed with a birdie at the par-3 9th.

After months of heat in the Spanish capital, Club de Campo has taken 50mm of rain over the last seven days and preferred lies are in play. The soft conditions pointed to low scoring, but the wind picked up as the day wore on and kept a lid on things. Scoring here can run very low: Jon Rahm closed with a 62 to win his third Open de España on this course in 2022.

Syme playing free

Syme has had a lean season after last year’s breakthrough maiden DP World Tour win. He came into the week 147th in the standings, but that winner’s category secures his full playing rights for next year. He is also preoccupied with other matters: he arrived late because his wife, Alanis, is expecting their first child soon.

The 31-year-old matched the best score from the afternoon wave. He made five birdies on his opening nine from the 10th, saved par with a chip-in at the 1st and took the solo lead at 6-under with a two-putt birdie at the par-5 4th. His only dropped shot came at his penultimate hole.

He built the round on a strong showing at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship last week.

“Very happy, played really well, so it was nice to have a really solid start on an amazing and a great golf course,” said Syme.

“This is obviously very different because last week would be similar to what I am playing a lot of the time.

“I had a tenth-place finish going back maybe five or six weeks and played quite well but I felt like I played a lot better last week. It’s been a funny year, a lot of change [and] I struggled with injury.

“But I definitely feel I turned a bit of a corner last week and it was much better and nice to carry that on into this week.”

Forrest finds his feet

At each of his last five DP World Tour starts he has either missed the cut or retired injured. Club de Campo has been kinder to him, with two top-5 finishes here in the last five years.

The two-time DP World Tour winner bogeyed the 13th, his fourth hole, then made three birdies in a four-hole stretch to reach the turn in 2-under. A birdie at the 1st was cancelled out at the 3rd, before gains at the 4th, 6th and 7th. He had a nine-footer at the last for the outright lead and missed it.

“It’s a different Club de Campo to what we’re used to, you know, playing so soft, but quite breezy this afternoon, and some tough holes,” said Forrest.

“I drove the ball really well, which made life a lot easier, and then just scored nicely, and, you know, I felt like a round like this had been coming over the past few weeks.

“Managed to make a few putts, and yeah, I’m delighted for the day’s work.”

Hillier drives away a winner

New Zealand’s Daniel Hillier made his first DP World Tour hole-in-one at the 17th and collected a BMW iX5 for his trouble. The ace sat alongside five birdies and three bogeys in a 67.

He is part of a four-man group on 4-under with Spaniards Ángel Ayora, who played the par-5s in 5-under on his own, and Sergio Garcia, who kept the home galleries happy, plus Denmark’s Jacob Skov Olesen, who went bogey-free.

Seasonal winners Joe Dean and Mikael Lindberg are among seven players a further shot back on 3-under.

Related: McIlroy Set for Dubai Return at DP World Tour Championship

An eighth Race to Dubai title would draw McIlroy level with Colin Montgomerie, but rankings leader Patrick Reed will also be in the field for the November finale.

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