Callum

Shinkwin

The 28-year-old Englishman carded his low round of the week – a 6-under 66 – to finish at 14-under 274, two strokes behind winner Calum Hill. Although his cuts-made record is only slightly above .500 (8-for-10), he appears to have rebounded from a summer “slump” where he missed three straight cuts. He’s missed just one cut in his last four starts, including a solo fifth at the Cazoo Open in July, and recorded a T-16 at the Hero Open two starts ago to go along with his pair of top fives. This week marks Shinkwin’s sixth start in the D+D Real Czech Masters, where he’s made the cut three times with a best finish of T-9 in 2017. He missed the cut in his last appearance in 2019.

The 28-year-old Shinkwin had a solid weekend, highlighted by a bogey-free, 8-under 63 in the third round at Celtic Manor, site of the 2010 Ryder Cup. He followed that up with a 67 on Sunday to secure his best finish since a T-2 last November at the Aphrodite Hill Cyprus Showdown. “Anyone out here can win, there’s so many people who can win,” he said Saturday. “It’s tough. Winning is hard on the European Tour. … You just have to wait for your time to come. You never know when it’s going to happen.” Shinkwin broke through for his maiden ET win last year at the Aphrodite Cyprus Open in October, beating Kalle Samooja with a birdie on the first playoff hole. On the season, he’s made six cuts in 11 starts with his previous best finish this season being a T-28 at the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters. Shinkwin is in the field for this week’s ISPS Handa World Invitational at Galgorm Castle GC and Massereene GC in Northern Ireland. He missed the cut at Galgorm last year in the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open.

The Englishman, who is chasing a first European Tour title, has proved himself before at Al Mouj Golf, finishing third there on the Challenge Tour. On this Saturday he ticked a pair of birdie hat tricks to join Sami Valimaki, Mikko Korhonen, Brandon Stone, Joost Luiten and Rasmus Hojgaard at the top of the leaderboard, one clear of Guido Migliozzi. His day began with a birdie at the par-5 third before he circled the sixth, seventh and eighth (the middle of those holes for a third time this week). Coming home he made it three-in-a-row at the 12th, 13th and 14th, but experienced more trouble at the 18th. He made a double bogey there in R2 and now added a bogey which cost him the solo lead. “Caught my approach there a bit fat and the wind caught it a little,” he explained. “It’s quite easy to force the issue tomorrow, but I want to let it happen. Someone could easily come through the field.”

It’s safe to say that the Englishman has had wildly different experiences in his four visits to the course. His debut, in a 2014 regular Challenge Tour event, saw him shoot 78-76 to miss the cut. A year later the tournament had become the second tier’s Grand Final and he finished T3. Three years on, it became a European Tour event and he opened with a 67. Ready for another good week? Alas, he closed 74-73-76 to land only T56 and last year he shot a 75 before withdrawing. He finished T5 in the KLM Open late last year, followed by T10 at the Dunhill Links, but since then he has failed to find the top 40 in six starts.

In one sense this season is a case of job done for the Englishman who just 18 months after coming within one eight-foot putt from claiming the Scottish Open, and a first European Tour win, was losing his card. On limited opportunities this season he has got himself to 92nd in the Race to Dubai and with no big money events between now and regular season’s end he is safe enough it would seem. But having managed T5 in the KLM Open and T10 at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in his last two starts he’ll be keen to kick on and this week offers some hope. He was T9 on his debut in here in 2016, a week when he topped the Greens in Regulation stats. A word of warning however: His last two laps of the course both needed 81 swings.

That was five back from winner Sergio Garcia although Shinkin held a one-shot lead over his playing partner with nine holes to play at The International. The World No. 446, who lost his playing privileges last year, moved to the turn in 2-under after seven pars and birdies at 1 and 6. But No. 10 proved the turning point as he took six swishes on the par 4, a blow from which he never recovered. Shinkwin cost himself further money and points with bogeys at 16 and 18. On the positive side, this is his first top five of the season and best finish since second place at the 2017 Scottish Open.

Tied second and two back at start of play, the Englishman made seven birdies against a single bogey at The International today. Shinkwin and Garcia, who will be playing partners again tomorrow, are two in front of Nicolai Hojgaard and three clear of James Morrison. The World No. 446 birdied three of his first six holes (2, 4 and 6) before holing his bunker shot at 9 to edge in front. He gave a shot back at the 11th but finished with three red circles in the final fives holes (14, 16 and 17). This will be the third time that Shinkwin has held a 54-hole lead on the European Tour. He slipped to sixth at the Indian Open earlier this year and famously had to settle for second place in the 2017 Scottish Open when bogeying the par-5 closing hole and then losing a playoff. He’ll get another shot at his first win tomorrow although Garcia will be a hard man to get past.

That matches the clubhouse score of fellow Englishman James Morrison while another compatriot, Matthew Southgate, is also at 9-under with three holes to complete. Shinkwin started his round at The International from No. 10 and made impressive progress to the turn with six pars and birdies at 12, 14 and 18. He twice hit double digits under par coming home but followed gains at 5 and 8 with a bogey each time. The World No. 446 has a WD and a RT next to his name in the last two starts but everything seems nicely on track here so far. He’ll be seeking a first European Tour win this weekend.

The Englishman burst from the blocks with a birdie at the second and eagle-3 at the third holes and although he handed a shot back to the card with a bogey at the fifth his response was swift and atoning: Back-to-back birdies at the sixth and seventh. From there he added seven straight pars before a birdie-par-birdie finish allowed him to spring one clear of a pack of seven in a tie for second on 5-under (Gavin Green, Per Langfors, Marc Warren, Chris Paisley, Matthew Southgate, Nicolai Hojgaard and Sam Horsfield). This first round effort was a welcome contrast to his last two. He shot 76 in the Scandinavian Invitational and 77 in the European Masters, both times the withdrawing. He’s looking for a first top ten since the BMW International Open in June.

The World No. 401, who ranks 116th on the Race to Dubai, started on the par-5 10th hole at Albatross Golf Resort today and needed five blows. A par at the next didn’t hint at anything special but the Englishman then birdied seven of his next nine holes to storm to the top of the leaderboard. That run included red numbers on the par 3s at 13 and 16 and came in a pattern of 2-3-2. But after his back-to-back birdies at 1 and 2, Shinkwin played the final seven holes in 1-over, dropping a shot at 6. He also opened with a 66 here in 2017 and kept it going to finish in a tie for ninth. This is his first appearance since a decent T41 in The Open at Royal Portrush while two starts before that the 26-year-old tied for tenth at the BMW International Open in Germany so there have been some promising recent signs.