Jack

Singh Brar

Last year the 23-year-old Englishman was a quietly impressive rookie, reiterating the good impression he once made on Ian Poulter when paired with the Ryder Cup legend in Open Qualifying back in 2017. A year later he won on both the third tier Alps Tour and the second tier Challenge Tour on his way to graduation to the top table. Notably he didn’t panic early in that campaign, when top 30s were hard to come by. A run of seven made cuts in high summer boosted the confidence and T8 in the final event, the Portugal Masters, saved his card. He is 5-for-7 in 2020, with top 20s in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, but his three most recent starts failed to land a top 60. He headed into lockdown ranked 56th on the Race to Dubai.

The 23-year-old had to overcome a mid-round slump to find himself T4 at Leopard Creek CC. He made bogeys at the fifth, seventh and ninth holes, with only a birdie at the sixth making any sort of recompense until he also ticked the 12th and 15th holes on the way home. It might be a concern, however, that has made all his errors in the run from the fifth to the tenth holes. His T8 in the Portugal Masters last month saved his card for this season and was one of four top 20s he made. He is two blows back of T2 and five adrift of Pablo Larrazabal’s lead.

The rookie from England is 15-for-25, but set for a nervous four weeks as he seeks to boost his Race to Dubai rankings from a perilous 113rd to something safely in the top 110. He’s recorded three top 20 finishes: T12 at Karen in the Kenyan Open, T14 at Valderrama in the Andalucia Masters and T14 at Albatross in the Czech Masters. The first two are interesting pointers because this week’s track (Club de Campo Villa de Madrid) is at altitude (like Karen) and it is also tree-lined (like Valderrama). But the flipside is that he’s missed his last two cuts.

The English rookie is 9-for-16 this season with a best of T12 at the Kenya Open. He also impressed for 54 holes at the Hong Kong Open (he was T12 before finishing T30). Those two results give some hope of another cut made, as does his Driving Accuracy ranking in the top 40 – finding fairways, after all, has tended to matter at Valderrama. His overall SG stats are, however, not great this season: He fails to rank top 75 for any of them.

That’s four off leader and compatriot Matthew Jordan. The English youngster, who had a piece of the R1 lead at the Magical Kenya Open before taking a season’s best T12, birdied his second hole of the day, the par-5 11th, but couldn’t get anything going after that. Indeed, his only deviation from par was a bogey-5 at 15. He started his second nine with a par at No. 1 but then really found a groove with red numbers at 2, 3, 5, 7 and 9. Singh Brar graduated from the Challenge Tour last year, helped by a victory at the Cordon Golf Open in France.

Following an opening bogey-free 64 yesterday afternoon, the young Englishman was keen to consolidate and did so on the front nine with birdies at 1 and 8. He gave those shots back with a frustrating bogey-6 at 12 and another dropped shot at 14 but secured an under-par lap with birdie-3 at his penultimate hole. All in all a solid enough day’s work for the rookie, who took just 24 putts in his first-round 64. Now for the big test over the final 36 holes this weekend.

With the afternoon play coming to a finish, that’s good enough for a one-shot lead over Gaganjeet Bhullar (17 holes) and Louis De Jager (16) and two clear of the clubhouse target set this morning by Adri Arnaus and Michael Hoey. The English rookie is 2-for-6 on this year’s European Tour but has missed his last three cuts. A winner on the Challenge Tour in 2018, Singh Brar opened with a par at 10 before ticking the back-to-back par 5s at 11 and 12. He reeled off 11 straight pars after that but an eagle-3 at 6 proved the catalyst for a charge to the line and he splashed red at 7, 8 and 9 to take the outright lead. Singh Brar led the Challenge Tour’s Foshan Open in China last October after an opening 63 and went on to take T5. That’s his only experience of a first-round lead so we’ll see how he performs from here.

The young Englishman, who so impressed Ian Poulter when they were paired together at Open Qualifying two years ago, has made a solid enough start to his European Tour rookie campaign, collecting T30 in the Hong Kong Open, T26 in the Alfred Dunhill Championship and T32 two weeks ago in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. Five events in so we are beginning to get a grip on his game via the stats. He’s a tidy 37th for Driving Accuracy and 54th for Greens in Regulation, but Strokes Gained stats tell a different picture: 87th Off the Tee, 92nd Approach the Green, 121st Tee to Green. Those numbers are flipped on the putting surfaces: 145th for Putts per GIR, 148th PPR and 51st SG: Putting.

What a way to launch your European Tour career – and what a 2018 it has been for the youngster about whom much is expected. He had failed at Q School last year and was playing on the third tier Alps Tour in February. He won there, used the impetus to gain invites on the Challenge Tour, played well and ultimately gained his playing rights for the main circuit. In his first lap he has demonstrated he has little fear. The opening nine was straightforward with nine pars, but then he hit his stride. Birdies came at the tenth, 13th, 15th and 17th as the World No. 221 aimed to keep the upward swing of his graph flying ever higher. He’ll started Friday behind only Jason Scrivener, Aaron Rai and Yusaku Miyazato.

The 21-year-old won three of his four Walker Cup matches in Team GB&I’s defeat at Los Angeles CC last year and turned pro straight afterwards. He hoped to work his way through Q School, alas it didn’t work out that way. Instead he has spent the last few weeks in Egypt on the third tier Alps Tour and immediately displayed his class, finishing T7 and then winning the Red Sea Little Venice event. Playing on an invitation this week he has big names backing him. Sir Nick Faldo was an early influence, Ian Poulter announced himself impressed when they played together in Open Qualifying and pop singer Niall Horan owns his management company. He’s 1-for-4 at European Tour level (T58 when he made the weekend).