A picture-perfect round at the right time for Drysdale
DAVID DRYSDALE passed a career milestone this week. By playing in the European Masters at Crans-sur-Sierre, he has completed 400 tournaments on the European Tour since making his debut in the Scottish PGA Championship at Gleneagles in 1999.
But that may not be the end of his celebrations this weekend, as two other milestones appeared on the mountainous horizon after he shot a six-under-par 64 in yesterday’s third round to leap up the leaderboard in the Swiss Alps.
It took the Cockburnspath Tour pro inside the top 10 and, although he lies five shots behind Australian leader Scott Hend, Drysdale is still within range of recording his first-ever win on the European Tour.
And, in the short term, a timely top-10 finish — his first of the year — would land him a sizeable cheque to lift him far enough above his current 96th place in this year’s Race to Dubai money list to erase the worry of having to go back to Tour School at Girona in November to earn his playing card for next year.
But unlike fellow Scot Marc Warren, who missed Friday’s cut and only stands 124th on that list, and is worried that unless form improves he will be heading to Spain for the first time in six years, Drysdale is confident his playing rights will be safe.
‘I have not been overly concerned about my card,’ he said. ‘The last couple of years, I have finished 86th and 102nd without a panic, and this year I have played some pretty solid golf without getting the momentum to move up a lot.’
That pattern changed dramatically yesterday on the first three greens at Crans as he holed a tricky eight-footer at the first to save par after having found a greenside bunker, and then holed from 10 feet and 15 feet at the next two making birdies on each occasion.
‘Those putts got my momentum going and suddenly my brain was confident,’ continued Drysdale.
‘Before that, I had played solid for the first two days but hadn’t holed many putts, so to get those three made such a big difference to my round.
And, while he did go on to make three more birdies and an eagle at the par-five 14th, he reckoned he could have shot even lower, saying : ‘I played lovely because I created a lot of other chances — on the fourth, fifth and sixth, I hit all my approaches inside 18 feet — but did not convert them. But I am still in the hunt.’
Drysdale refused to let those missed opportunities get him down because he said the sunny weather in the Alps had been the best he could remember in 13 visits to Crans and, away from the course, he had also been enjoying home cooking in a flat by his wife Vicky, who has served up a mixture of pasta, curry and pork chops in pepper sauce.
Furthermore, he was delighted to discover that, after negotiations on Friday between the Tour’s new chief executive Keith Pelley and sponsors Omega, the Masters will continued to be played in the mountains until 2023.
Drysdale was, however, the only one of four Scots who made the cut sitting inside the top 40 last night. Richie Ramsay carded a one-under 69 but admitted he never really got going, Stephen Gallacher could only shoot a thirdround 70 and Paul Lawrie slipped backwards by carding a 73.
But, while Hend looks the favourite to add the Swiss Masters to the True Thailand Classic title he won in March, the large Crans crowd are only likely to have eyes for one man today.
Andrew Johnston, the young Englishman nicknamed ‘Beef’ who has amassed more than three million twitter followers since winning the Spanish Open in April, will be going into the final round in the top five on the leaderboard.
Scottish Open winner Alex Noren of Sweden is Hend’s closest challenger, a four-underpar 66 putting him one shot behind the Australian overnight.