Gurugram: South Africa’s Boksburg city ceased being a gold mining town about two decades ago, but young golfer Casey Jarvis is adding great sparkle to his hometown with his rousing run in the past few months on the European DP World Tour. The 22-year-old is in phenomenal form, winning the Kenyan Open and the South African Championship back-to-back before finishing tied second in the Joburg Open, all in the last three weeks before heading to India for the Hero Indian Open.
Throw in the tied ninth at the Bahrain Championship and tied 13th at the NTT Data Pro-Am in the week before the Kenya Open, all of which has raised Jarvis to South Africa No. 2 and world No. 69. Winning the South African Championship also earned him a spot to play in his first Masters, the first Major of the year. The DP World Tour wins have also secured a spot in The Open Championship.
On Friday, undeterred by an almost 90-minute stoppage due to a lightning warning after rain, Jarvis carded the best round. This score seems unlikely to be matched although 30 players had yet to finish their second round when play was suspended due to darkness.
His brilliant 8-under par 64 after a first round 73 left him at 7-under for the tournament, one shot off clubhouse leader Eugenio Chacarra, the Spanish defending champion who was in his group along with Italy’s Francesco Molinari, winner of the Open Championship in 2018. Chacarra shot a 3-under 69 to top the leaderboard, having shot 67 on Day 1 to be one off the lead.
South Africa’s Matthys Johannes Daffue, 37, who won the DP World PGTI Open (jointly sanctioned by India’s domestic tour and Europe’s feeder series) last week, shot 67 to be third at 6-under for the tournament with Germany’s Freddy Schott a further shot back after a one-over 73.
Jarvis, who had nine birdies and one bogey on a challenging course which Molinari described as one that can trick players into thinking they were taking the right decisions, was delighted that excelling on the course’s elevated and wavy greens with slopes would prepare him for the similar layout at Augusta.
“The greens were a little bit softer this morning (after overnight rain), so kind of took advantage on my front nine,” he said after playing his first nine holes at 5-under. “I don’t think I’ve an edge over anyone out here… But I’m just running on confidence at the moment.”
Asked about the Augusta comparison, Jarvis said: “Yeah, 100%. I mean, the greens are very slopey, and I know Augusta’s also very slopey, but extremely fast and I’m sure it will be extremely fast there as well.”
The only time Chacarra stumbled, if you can call that one, was when, having just ended his English interview for the official tour feed and asked to give comments in his native language, he started off in English and had to go again. It was otherwise a masterful show of control.
The 26-year-old bogeyed the 10th, his first hole, and 14th, but recovered with an eagle on the par-5 18th, his ninth. There was one more bogey, but four birdies, including in the last two holes, put him where he wanted to be. Chacarra has had just one over-par round starting with last year’s Indian Open.
Glad he could soak in tips playing along side Molinari, he said: “When I got here, the good memories came up. When I’m having fun playing golf, I already proved I’m one of the best players in the world.” Chacarra was superb off the tee. “I feel like my ball striking has been outstanding and around these places you have that, you’re going to take advantage of the course.”
Akshay Bhatia was one-under after 16 holes and on the projected cut-line at four-over. Having shot 77 to be five-over, he was 4-under after the first nine with five birdies and a bogey, but dropped three shots, including a double on the tricky 14th.
Shubhankar Sharma will miss the cut after ending 7-over (77+74), but two Indians are sure to make it. Manoj S, an 18-year-old from Bengaluru, carded 2-under 70 (after 76 on Day 1) to be 2-over. Om Prakash Chouhan, the 2023 PGTI Tour Order of Merit winner, was the best home player at par—T23 (73+71).
