Ashley

Chesters

The Englishman got off to a hot start this week with rounds of 66-69 to sit five shots off the lead. It was a great start but he knew he would need to maintain that pace to post a top 10 and have a shot at earning the exemption into The Open. Chesters had not posted a top 10 since the 2019 Porsche European Open but got the job done this week thanks to travel concerns and weather shortening the event to 36 holes. The others to punch their ticket to The Open at St Andrews included Thriston Lawrence and Zander Lombard. Shaun Norris finished in a tie with Chesters but he was already exempt into The 150th Open. This exemption was a big deal for Chesters as he posted a T12 at the 2015 Open Championship at St Andrews while playing as an amateur.

The Englishman traded six birdies with just one bogey in round one and picked up three more circles today while dropping just one more shot. The 32-year-old is not trying to get ahead of himself but does have his eye on the prize at the end of the tunnel this week as there are three spots up for grabs this week for entry into the 2022 Open Championship at St. Andrews. “I did well in The Open in 2015 and I did say at the time, I’d love to go back and try and do the same thing as a professional.” Chesters would need a top 10 to have a chance, something he hasn’t pulled off since a T9 at the 2019 Porsche European Open. Adding to the difficulty, Chesters also has to deal with the new UK travel restrictions that were put in place today. As of now, it looks like he is staying in the field, worrying about travel arrangements at another time.

Less than ten players who ended the 2019 season in the top 115 of the Race to Dubai have made the journey down under – and many of them are locals. The reasons are cost, length of journey and the few points on offer (a by-product of the Rolex Series is that 50th in one of those is worth about the same as fifth this week). So a player needs incentive to travel and Chesters’ might be the linksland because he’s good on it. He was T12 last year, has also thrived in the Open (T12 in 2015) and in the Irish Open (two top 20s). Four events into the 2020 season he’s made three cuts but is seeking a first top 20.

The two-time European Amateur Champion has already confirmed himself a third consecutive season on the European Tour – he currently ranks 91st in the Race to Dubai. With 20 cuts made from his 27 starts he has improved from last year’s 20 from 33 appearances, but he has so far managed just two top tens against 2018’s three. Can he contend this week? As a solid manipulator of the ball he tends to thrive on tough tracks rather than birdie-fests so you’d think not, but he has a decent enough record here. He was T52 on debut in 2017 and T16 last year. His opening laps have been 67 and 66, but he’s never broken 70 in round two.

Chesters has six top 25s to his name this season after T18 at Albatross on Sunday and this week’s course, Hills Golf & Sports Club, looks right up his street. The par 70 rewards straight hitters and the Englishman is certainly in that bracket, ranking 5th in Driving Accuracy this season. We got a chance to see if the theory would play out when Hills was used for the first time in this event 12 months ago and Chesters finished T29 to suggest it’s a course where he could enjoy future success.

The Englishman is 9-for-14 this season and has earned himself three top 15 finishes yet he needs a good summer because he’s only 108th on the Race to Dubai. He’s 5-for-7 in recent times so making the weekend often enough, but in that run he hasn’t managed to better T25 despite being inside the top 25 five times during the earlier rounds. He was T20 on the course in 2017 and has decent memories of Germany. He was T8 in the 2017 European Open when leading by one at halfway.

The Englishman is one of the straightest hitters on the European Tour, ranking tenth this season for Driving Accuracy and 27th for Greens in Regulation. But it is the birdie/bogey count which also hints at his suitability for this exacting test: he ranks 52nd for Bogeys made yet 208th for Birdies. So a track which calls for patience is perfect. He ticked the fourth and eighth on the front nine, the tenth, 13th and 18th on the back; there were bogeys at the ninth and 16th. He’s seeking a fourth top 20 of the season and is currently 87th on the Race to Dubai.

The Englishman recently came as close as ever to winning a European Tour event, playing the final group with Sergio Garcia in the Andalucia Masters. He got off to a terrible start in the final round, but pulled it round for T4. Talking in Turkey he was clearly down about it, comparing his effort unfavourably to Matt Wallace’s thrill of the chase. But that effort might be worth recalling because top ten performers at a Valderrama event held a few weeks prior to this event have a startling record here. Wade Ormsby was the most recent example, but Gregory Havret and Jose Manuel Lara have also thrived in addition to many others nearer the top of the market. Chesters was T39 on tournament debut last year.

The Englishman tends to need tough challenges to thrive, a consequence of being neat from tee to green yet Strokes Gained reveals he makes up very little on the field in doing so. What we know for certain is that he was a very impressive T4 at the Andalucia Masters in Valderrama, when he played the final round alongside Sergio Garcia and was initially spooked, but fought back with some gusto. It was a first European Tour top five. His only experience of Turkey was when T51 in the Turkish Airlines Challenge of 2016.

Admittedly the English sophomore ended the week seven swings back of his final round playing partner Sergio Garcia, but in the end it was not a bad performance. Starting the final round Sunday four swings back he had doubled the margin with back-to-back double bogeys at the third and fourth. However his first response was smart: birdies at five and six. And having slept on that start he resumed Monday morning and ticked 14 and 17 before a bogey at 18. The result bettered his T7 at this year’s Shotclock Masters as his finest at this level and saw him rise 21 places on the Race to Dubai. He is now 67th.