Grant Forrest will take a one-stroke lead into the weekend at the Open de España presented by Madrid after continuing his strong record at Real Club de Campo Villa de Madrid.
Related: Eugenio Chacarra plays through pain to hold share of lead
The Scot has twice finished tied third in Spain’s national open, in 2021 and 2024, and has made the cut in all six of his previous appearances.
The 33-year-old shared the first-round lead after opening with a 66 and followed it with a 67 on Friday to reach nine under par, one ahead of countryman Connor Syme and Switzerland’s Joel Girrbach.
Forrest arrived in Madrid after missing four consecutive cuts and retiring from his fifth appearance of the season on the Back 9, but said after Thursday’s opening round that he had seen signs of a good performance coming.
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He bogeyed his opening hole on Friday but responded with birdies at the seventh and eighth, both set up by fine approaches, to turn in 35.
Further birdies followed at the tenth and 12th, the latter courtesy of a 32-foot putt, before he recovered from a bogey at the 13th for the second consecutive day with a birdie at the next. He then finished in style, getting up and down for birdie at the last.
Eugenio Chacarra, playing on home soil with a fractured toe, and Joe Dean are both at eight under, with Danish duo Jacob Skov Olesen and Jeff Winther, French pair Martin Couvra and Victor Perez, and Daniel Hillier another shot back.
Chacarra, already a two-time winner of national opens this year, finished strongly with three birdies in his final five holes to card a 69.
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Dean, who claimed his maiden DP World Tour title earlier this season at the Husqvarna British Masters hosted by Sir Nick Faldo, carded a bogey-free 67. Couvra and Winther both signed for 66s, while Rolex Series winner Perez made three consecutive birdies in his round of 68 and Hillier carded a 69 to complete the top ten.
Patrick Reed, who has led the Race to Dubai Rankings Delivered by DP World since February, missed the cut. Chacarra would move ahead of both Rory McIlroy and the American with a victory on Sunday.
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Eddie Pepperell, who is in need of Race to Dubai points to preserve his playing rights next season, was among those to make the cut on the number at one over after birdieing his final hole in a battling 70.
Player quotes
Grant Forrest: 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, you know, the last 12 holes and yeah, delighted with four under. I probably didn’t play quite as well as yesterday.
I think there’s some tough holes out there. You know, the tougher holes are playing into the wind and you just know if you can make no worse than a bogey then we’re going to have plenty of chances and managed to do that and convert them so yeah, happy with that.
I checked the set-up sheet this morning and saw they were almost half a foot quicker and to be honest that’s what we’re used to here. I’ve been here I think five or six times now so It’s quite weird playing them when they’re so soft and a little bit slower, but I think by Sunday they’ll dry out and they’ll speed them up again and it’ll be the Club de Campo that we’re used to playing.
