Ben

Evans

The 34-year-old Englishman opened with a 6-under 64 and just one shot off the lead last week in Gran Canaria, then he followed up with two more sub-par rounds of 67-68 before finishing with an even-par 70 on Sunday. It marked the third made cut in four starts this season for Evans, who also posted at T-57 at the Kenya Savannah Classic and T-41 at the Kenya Open. It’s a promising beginning after an average 2020 season where he made six cuts in 12 European Tour starts but went 0-for-2 on the Challenge Tour. He did finish strong, however, closing out 2020 by going 5-of-6 in Euro Tour action. In 143 career starts on the European Tour, Evans has six top-10s with the most recent coming in the 2019 season at the Alfred Dunhill Championship (T-5).

That’s three swishes more than leader Paul Casey. Evans started his day in the penultimate group from 10th tee and had four par 5s to go at in his opening nine holes. His only deviation from par on those long holes though was a bogey-6 at 15, a dropped shot he got back at the par-3 17th. But coming home, he outpaced a bogey at 3 with red circles at 1, 5 and 7 before finally ticking a par 5 with a walk-off birdie at 9. Evans found 7 (of 13) fairways and hit only 11 GIR but took just 25 putts. The 32-year-old came to Hamburg ranked 143rd on the Race to Dubai so needs a big week.

The Englishman has twice threatened to perform well on this Robert Trent Jones Sr creation, but he is yet to follow through and complete the job. In 2016 he was T19 at halfway and finished T56. Twelve months later he was T5 at halfway and that time slipped to T36. Both times he ranked top ten for Driving Distance and also for Putts per Round. Early this season he was T5 in the Alfred Dunhill Championship at Leopard Creek, but generally the season has been hard work and he has made just three cuts in his last eight starts with a best of T42 in the Belgian Knockout.

Just a third start in Qatar for the Englishman who has been ghosting around the higher echelons of the Challenge Tour and lower levels of the European Tour for 11 years now. At first glance there is little to be interested in. He was T29 in 2016 and missed the cut in 2018, breaking 70 just once in those six laps. But note that he ranked first for Driving Accuracy in 2016, plus fourth for Total Driving and fifth for Ball-Striking. This season he is 3-for-7 and has done well when he has cashed in (T30 Hong Kong Open, T5 Dunhill Championship, T17 World Super 6 Perth). But he still has just seven top tens in 108 ET starts.

The 32-year-old Englishman started the day five shots off the pace and was never truly in contention to win but it was a still a solid round. Evans made an early splash with an eagle at the par-5 second and a birdie at the par-4 third but leader David Lipsky was also off to a strong start. Evans slowed his pace with just two more birdies and two bogeys on his way into the clubhouse. Spending most of his time on the Challenge Tour last year, this is his first top 5 on the big stage since a T3 at the 2017 Made in Denmark. Evans recently finished T20 at Q-School to earn his way back to the Euro Tour. His mark of 16-under in Q-School was right on the number and he’s making good use of that status so far, now 16th in the Race to Dubai.

The Englishman will celebrate his 32nd birthday in round one, can it bring him good luck? He kind of needs it because he has been lingering around the fringes of the European Tour for a good while now and he didn’t excel too much in 2017 and 2018 on the Challenge Tour, only getting the 27th card at Qualifying School. Starts will be at a premium. On first glance his record on the course is not great. He missed the cut in 2014 (72-72) and was T41 in 2016, but he shot 71-69 to be T9 at halfway before a weekend run of 73-75 ruined his hopes. He opened the season with T30 in the Hong Kong Open and then a pair of missed cuts in Mauritius and South Africa.

The Englishman entered the week 143rd on the Race to Dubai and looking at a return to Q School in November, but this result gives him fresh hope of avoiding that scenario with his first top 20 of the season. When he opened with bogeys at 1 and 7 the good result did not look on. When he made bogey at 14 straight after a birdie at 13 it still looked remote. But he holed from greenside sand on 15 for an eagle-3 then stiffed his tee shot at the par-three 16th for a kick-in birdie. He then parred 17 and 18 to make the most of his hard work. He found just 13 of 26 fairways at the weekend, and saved par just 5 of 11 times, but he holed the putts that mattered.

The Englishman posted seven birdies on Thursday and initially looked set for a repeat when ticking another three in his opening six holes at 2, 4 and 6. But a bogey followed at No. 8 and he traded birdie-bogey on the back nine at 15 and 18 so made no further progress. Nonetheless, this week already marks a huge improvement in a season so far lacking even one top 20 finish. Typically straight from the tee (10-from-13) his short game has held up this week: 55 putts and 8-for-11 in Scrambling. His September results on the 2014 Challenge Tour earned him a main tour card and his results in this month last year helped retain it; he needs to complete the hat-trick to avoid a trip to Q School.

The Englishman set the tone with an opening birdie-2 at 10 and, after a par at 11, connected red from Nos. 12-15 to hit 5-under with just a third of his round gone at The Dutch, a brand new venue to the European Tour. He came back down to earth with a bogey-5 at 17 but responded with circles at 1 and 4. Evans parred his way to the clubhouse to land a shot clear of Mikko Korhonen, Bernd Wiesberger, Peter Hanson and Byeong-Hun An. It’s hard to know where this came from as the 29-year-old hasn’t even managed to break 70 in his last 17 first rounds. Those slow starts have hurt him to the extent that he’s failed to post a top 25 since T21 at February’s Tshwane Open. Today, he piped 8 (of 13) fairways, hit 12 greens in regulation, was 5-for-6 in scrambling and took just 25 putts on the par 71. Evans, currently 143rd on the Race to Dubai, needs a big finish to the season to save his card so this is a first step.

Last week’s T3 in the Made in Denmark tournament offered Ben Evans a little hope of regaining his full European Tour card this season, but he’ll have to buck the trend of his previous visits to this course (and the country) to further aid the cause. Way back in 2008 the Englishman carded a second round 64 in a Challenge Tour event in the Czech Republic on his way to T27, but since then it has been hard work. He’s missed two cuts in the Czech Challenge and on the main circuit, at this course, he has gone T70-T57-T51. Being positive he’s always made the weekend, being realistic he’s never gone sub-70. Last week’s effort was his second top ten of the season, but it came in the Challenge Tour co-sanctioned Open de Portugal – he’s peaking in the small purse events. He needs a lot more of the same to improve on 150th on the Race to Dubai.