Bradley

Dredge

That’s two swings back from James Morrison (F) and Callum Shinkwin (7 holes). Dredge, who was T6 in this event but at a different venue last year, had a quiet opening round with two birdies and two bogeys in a 72. It was a different story today as he birdied five times in his opening ten holes (2, 4, 7, 8 and 10). He calmed down after that with seven pars but had a final trick up his sleeve when finishing with eagle-3 at the last. The Welshman has made his last six cuts on the European Tour although failed to finish better than T39 during that run. He’ll look to cash in on the opportunity for some much-needed Race to Dubai points this weekend.

Dredge shares T2 with a trio of home Spanish players - Sergio Garcia, Alvaro Quiros and Adri Arnaus. A hole-out eagle at 9 had helped the Welshman to a 67 in the first round but Valderrama bared its teeth today and par was always a good score. Dredge hopped on the par train at No. 1 and his only deviation from it was a bogey-4 at 6. But his patience was rewarded and he finally made a first birdie of the day to move up to second and stayed there with a walk-off par. The World No. 464 has a best this season of T13 so this is a great chance to bank some useful Race to Dubai points and move up from 129th.

The Welshman was down in the pack after two bogeys (2 and 7) against a lone bogey (5) over his first eight holes. But at the 441-yard par-4 9th hole he drained his second for eagle-2 to jump from +1 to -1. Riding that change in momentum, Dredge birdied 10 and 11 before picking up another shot at 17 to move in to the top ten. The World No. 464 is an experienced campaigner at Valderrama, owning a 9-for-11 slate and taking third debut in 2002. Recent form has been a problem though. Dredge had suffered four MCs and WD since T18 at March’s Qatar Masters so he has a strong base now to boost his Race to Dubai position of 129th.

Dredge owns a pair of top fives (2010 and 2016) at Doha GC and will hunt another after this bright start which saw him sprinkle seven birdies against three bogeys. His day started from the 10th tee and he made birdie there and another at 11. He dropped a shot at 12 but hit the gas again with red numbers at 16, 18, 1 and 2 before a wobble with bogeys at 3 and 6. A walk-off birdie at 9 completed a full set of circles on the par 5s and hoisted him to within one of the lead. Dredge, who is 4-for-4 in the desert this season, will have a morning tee-time tomorrow.

The Welshman missed the cut on debut way back in 1998 but since then he’s 14-for-16. That run includes tied fifth in 2010 and tied fourth in 2016 while he opened with 64 for T21 in 2017 so we don’t need to blow dust off old form books to find evidence of his best results. Dredge’s very latest play offers encouragement too. All his four starts this season have been in the desert and he’s cashed every time, with T13 in the Saudi International and T24 in the Dubai Desert Classic noteworthy efforts. He could be a smart pick.

The Welshman teed it up for the first time since October when taking T54 in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship and then shot all four rounds under par to post T24 in last week’s Dubai Desert Classic, ranking second for Scrambling and 19th for GIR. Back in September, Dredge was T6 at the KLM Open and followed it with T16 at the Portugal Masters. They were low scoring events and that’s likely to be the case this week. Put the pieces together and the veteran is certainly worth a look.

Dredge has finished in the top ten just once but extend the search to top 20s and the Welshman has racked up no less than nine of them. The latest came when T18 in 2016 while he made the cut for the 14th time out of 15 on his last visit two years ago. Dredge just managed to retain his card last year after finishing 110th on the Race to Dubai and this could be a good opportunity to bank some early points. He made his first start of the new 2019 season in Abu Dhabi last week and, despite a bright first 36 holes (70-68), had to settle for T54. This will be his 465th start on the European Tour.

The Welshman has a huge bank of experience to call on at French golf’s HQ, but the messages are a bit mixed. The good news is that he has 5 top 20 finishes in his 13 starts, but he also has 5 missed cuts. The 3 exceptions weren’t great either: all T48 or worse. And it might be worth noting that he has just one finish inside the top 50 in his last 6 visits. His season started in fine style, with 7 weekends played on the bounce and 5 top 20s in among them including second at the Irish Open. But missed cuts at the BMW PGA Championship and Nordea Masters put a dent in the form book before a T28 last week in Germany got things back on the straight and narrow. Outside shot of inspiration? The Welsh football team are thriving in the European Championship currently being held in France.

The 43-year-old Welshman last teed it up in a major back in 2010 at the Open Championship, finishing T27, his best effort in 10 major starts. He has made three appearances in the PGA Championship - in 2003, 2006 and 2007 - but is yet to make the weekend. He started the 2016 season in fine fettle, with 7 finishes in the top 35 including three top 7 efforts, of which one, solo second in the Irish Open, guaranteed his card for the year. Since then however he is 2-for-5 although when he has made the weekend he’s registered two top 30s.

The Welshman is 26th in the Race to Dubai this season and arrived in Prague with good vibes about the course after finishing second in 2014 and T40 last year. Starting on the back nine he was relentlessly tidy throughout his lap. There were two birdies on the first nine (at 13 and 15) then two on the second (at 2 and 4), with not one dropped shot. He striped 10 of 14 fairways, found 15 greens in regulation, went 3-for-3 in scrambling and used the putts 29 times.