Chris

Hanson

After three seasons at the highest level, the Englishman lost his card last year and hasn’t really looked like bouncing back (currently 62nd on the second tier’s money list). He’s played just twice on the European Tour this season, missing the cut in March’s Kenya Open and posting T58 at the Czech Masters. Prior to that he was T18 at the Made In Denmark Challenge and it’s worth noting that he was T17 with 18 holes to go in the Czech Republic before a 77 in R4. As well as the better signs in his current form, Hanson was T19 at this venue two years ago (MC in 2018) so this isn’t the worst time to get him on board.

That’s just two swings behind leader Lucas Bjerregaard although Hanson hit 5-under himself with a birdie at 15. That followed front-nine circles at 4, 6, 7 and 9 although he wobbled at the finish with a double bogey-5 at 16 and a bogey at 18 after he’d grabbed another par breaker at 17. Hanson piped 10 (of 14) fairways, hit 13 greens in regulation and took 27 putts in his opener and is currently T3 on the live leaderboard. The Englishman has made his last five cuts on the European Tour, posting T5 at the Trophee Hassan II (54-hole leader) and T10 in the Lyoness Open during that run.

The Englishman enjoyed an excellent start to May by following a fourth place in a Challenge Tour event in Madrid with T5 at the Trophee Hassan II in Morocco. He was the 54-hole leader there but stumbled on Sunday. After T34 in Mauritius, he popped up on the leaderboard again in Sweden last week but, once more, a closing 77 compromised his finish. Hanson had been T12 after three rounds but dropped to T25 when all was done so stronger Sundays are the next stage in his development. Austria hasn’t been a happy hunting ground for him so far as he’s missed five cuts out of five in European/Challenge Tour events.

The 31-year-old Englishman is enjoying his first season on the European Tour but needs one very good week, or a month of high consistency, to prevent a return to Qualifying School in November as he sits 114th in the Race to Dubai. He’s 11-for-14 in 2016, with the highlights being T5 at the Trophee Hassan II - when leading after 54 holes - and T10 in the Lyoness Open. On both occasions he ranked top 3 for All Round stats. He played this event in 2014, one of his rare main tour outings prior to this season, and made the cut, eventually finishing T52. Three years ago he was T10 in the Czech Challenge Open.

The Englishman was as neat and tidy in his lap of the course Thursday as he has been neat and tidy on his European Tour rookie season. Prior to this week he was 13-for-16 with four top 25 finishes and in round one he was much the same as he landed 17 greens in regulation to move within one of the leader. Hanson’s started from No. 10 and was particularly serene to the turn, marking six pars and three birdies at 14, 15 and 17. The front nine was a little bit more hectic: red numbers at 1, 3, 4 and 8; blue ones at 2 and 9. He needed 30 putts to complete the same score as namesake Peter.

After the weather problems on Thursday and Friday, Hanson had six holes to complete when returning to Golf Club Milano on Saturday morning. He made the most of them, recording an eagle at the 503-yard par-5 14th for the second time this week and adding another birdie at 17 to post 11-under 131 after 36 holes, just two behind the clubhouse lead of Chris Paisley. Hanson, who finished T8 in in the KLM Open last week, found just 6 (of 14) fairways in his stop-start second round but recovered to hit 14 greens in regulation. He’s 5-for-7 in scrambling this week and 2-for-2 from sand. He entered the week ranked 100th on the Race to Dubai.

That’s just a single swing behind leader Brandon Stone. The Englishman opened his birdie account at 2 and then put eight ‘3’s on his card over the next 10 holes. Five of those (3, 6, 9, 10 and 11) were par breakers. He added another at 14 to join the lead but then posted his only bogey of the round and just second of the week with a square at the par-5 15th. A closing birdie took him back to 10-under, just a shot off the pace. Hanson, who was T44 in this event last year, just managed to hold onto his European Tour card after finishing 109th on the 2016 Race to Dubai.

The Englishman opened 69-65-68 to sit T2 with 18 holes to play of December’s Alfred Dunhill Championship at Leopard Creek but spiralled back to T11 after closing with a 76. This week, he’ll aim to add to his perfect 6-for-6 record on South African soil. That includes T59 on his Glendower debut last year, a second-round 67 showing he can shoot good numbers at the parkland par 72. Hanson saved his Tour card by the skin of his teeth last season but that was his rookie campaign and he’ll know more second time around.

The Englishman picked off eight birdies in his afternoon lap of Leopard Creek but four bogeys meant he slipped three behind leader Brandon Stone having started the day just one back from the young South African. Hanson went to the turn in 33 with red at 2, 6 and 8 against a bogey at 7. He picked up further shots at 10, 11 and 13 but gave all those gains back with squares at 12, 14 and 16. The wild ride continued with a birdie at 17 and another at the last, meaning he parred just two of his final 13 holes. He’ll play in the final group Sunday alongside leader Stone and another South African, Keith Horne.

It sounds like a good start but the Englishman, who just clung on to this card by a single spot last season, was T2 going into the final day before slipping nine spots with a closing 76. Finishing outside the top 10 in an event with a modest purse wins you little (18,580 Euro to be precise) so he’ll be hunting a bigger cheque in Hong Kong. It’s his first start at Fanling but he has teed it up in the region and done well. Hanson contested the Foshan Open on mainland China in both 2014 and 2015 and finished T12 and T6 respectively. He also placed third for greens in regulation at the Alfred Dunhill and a repeat of that would be an ideal formula for success at Fanling.