Florian

Fritsch

The failure to keep his card last year and the phobia which forced him to give up the game for a while in 2010 means he’ll be keen to make the most of these events in mainland Europe. He appeared to be doing that in Sweden last week when tied for the first round lead at the Nordea Masters but a final 36 holes relegated him to T40. That followed a pair of top 25s on the Challenge Tour (in the Czech Republic and Italy after manageable journeys) so he has shown a few hints of decent form. Fritsch has also made his last two cuts in this week’s event, his best a T17 two years ago after a Sunday 68.

Fritsch very nearly overcame his aversion to flying in 2015, when falling just short of retaining his card on a necessarily restricted schedule. This year he has even fewer options, but took this rare start in his stride, cruising the course in bogey-free style. He started on the back nine and recorded birdies at 12 and 14. On the front nine he added a burst of 3 in 4 at 4, 6 and 7. He is in the leading pack of six, which also included Andrew Johnston, Sebastien Gros, Clement Berardo, Scott Henry and Marc Warren, one ahead of the chasing field.

The German was one of five co-leaders after an opening 67 but quickly put it in reverse on Friday after an opening bogey and further dropped shots at 7 and 8. He stopped the bleeding with a gain at 9 and made four birdies (10, 12, 16 and 18) against a single bogey (11) on his second nine to post 6-under 138 at the midpoint. That’s five swings behind leader Matthew Fitzpatrick. Despite piping 10 (of 13) fairways today, Fritsch could only hit 11 greens in regulation while he was 4-for-7 in scrambling.

The German shot a third round 64 this time last year which vaulted him to second and a place in the final group on Sunday. Alas he needed 74 blows that day and slipped back to T19. It was a chastening experience, but the lessons learned might prove fruitful this year. He’s further from the lead, five shots, but a good finish might earn him a full card for next season. He opened his round with a hat-trick of birdies from the 10th tee and closed the back nine with birdie-bogey. A run of four birdies on the bounce from the third shot him up the leaderboard and although he made bogey at 7 he got the shot back on the 9th.

He is now T4 on 11-under 131 for the tournament with just 18 holes to play (after the reduction following bad weather conditions). His round was a flawless display. Starting from the 10th he opened with birdie and added two more, back-to-back, at 16 and 17. He then ticked red at 3, 6, 8 and 9 on the front nine He finished T7 in the recent European Masters and needs a high finish very soon to regain the card he lost last year. A top two might secure it, third would put him right on the bubble; he is currently 165th in the rankings.

There were few more popular card-retention stories that that of the German who doesn’t fly. This year he kicks off his season with the 16th tournament of the schedule, so has given his peers a solid headstart and yet viewed from another perspective (for example, his) it’s not all bad: he can start playing fresh, excited and ready. Others have struggled through the early part of the season and are now desperate to make cuts. It’s a far from perfect comparison, but Fritsch thrives on being far from being perfect and making the most of what he has. Spent the last two weeks in Portugal honing his game. By his own admission he aims for steadiness and that might not be such a bad ploy this week. His lack of prep won’t be a hindrance this week either – everyone else in the same position more or less.

A tough start to the season for Fritsch, who is 2-for-5 (he has played very few events owing to his aversion to flying). The good news is that he was T30 at the BMW PGA Championship – the biggest prize fund he has played for – and was also T28 last time out in the Lyoness Open. The next four weeks are big for him: Munich-Paris-Belfast-Glasgow. Relatively speaking it’s not a bad schedule for driving, allowing him to concentrate on the golf. He needs to find more greens (ranked 109th for GIR) and hole more putts (163rd for Putts per Round) to turn things around. The bad news? He’s not discovered Eichenried to his liking in the past. His missed the cut the first five times he played it and was T40 there in 2015. He was T7, his best European Tour finish on home soil, in last year’s European Open at Bad Griesbach.

The German has a limited schedule due to his aversion to flying so looks to make the most of his opportunities in mainland Europe. He couldn’t really do that at his home BMW International last week when T51 but has made a strong start here thanks to an afternoon lap featuring an eagle, three birdies and a bogey. Fritsch birdied his third hole of the day, the par-4 10th, but gave the shot back with a bogey at 17. Still at even par for his round after 11 holes, he then made a jump with eagle-3 at 3. He added birdies at 6 and 9 to slot in just three shots behind first-round leader Paul Waring.

The 31-year-old has been comfortable on the Beckenbauer Course in the past (three top 30s) and, despite the format change this week, it is staying that way this week. He was 3-up in three holes, but in truth it had very little to do with his own golf and a lot to do with the Dane’s errors. Bjerregaard made bogey at No. 1 and No. 3, conceding No. 2 in between. He made amends with back-to-back birdies at 8 and 9, but Fritsch re-established a 2-up lead with a par breaker of his own at the 11th. On the par-3 17th Fritsch stuffed his tee shot to 8’0", Bjerregaard couldn’t match it, but did drain his own birdie putt before Fritsch sealed the deal. He will play Robert Rock in the next round.

This season continues to be a struggle for the German whose starts are limited by a fear of flying. He is 4-for-10 in strokeplay, but was ticking along quite nicely in last week’s Paul Lawrie Match Play, on a course he likes, until falling at the round of 16 stage. He’ll retain faith, however, because it was a burst of three T7s late in the 2016 season which allowed him to retain his card. He’s played the tournament twice. Back in 2015 he was T20, a week he ranked sixth for Driving Distance (ironically) and fourth for Putts per Round. He was down on both stats when missing the cut 12 months ago. He isn’t helping himself this year by getting off to slow starts: he’s started 7 of his 10 second rounds knowing he’s already outside the cut mark and needing to push on.