John

Parry

The Englishman, who won the European Tour’s Vivendi Cup in 2010, has become more noted for being a Q-School specialist in recent seasons after making his third successful trip there last November. He only finished in the money seven times in 2016 although one of those was at October’s Portugal Masters. This season he’s cashed just once (T40 at the BMW South African Open) and his last two starts show a pair of 79s in the Indian Open and a WD at the Trophee Hassan II after an opening 80. That’s obviously a worry but the upside on the Englishman is some strong form in Portugal which shows two top 10s and a further two top 20s.

That matched the low round of the day and secured the Englishman his best result on the European Tour since a T4 at the ISPS Handa Wales Open in September 2013. His 72-hole total of 10-under 274 was only three adrift of the playoff number although he never really threatened to reel in the leaders. Parry, who kept a bogey off his card all day, had eight pars and an eagle-3 at the seventh on his front nine and added birdies at 10, 15 and 18 coming home.

The Englishman is coming off a T5 at the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open last week so current form appears to be trumping location form as he’d previously missed six of his last nine cuts in Spain. Parry traded a birdie with a bogey over the first three holes today before making his move with a par breaker at the fifth and that eagle at the seventh. He added two birdies against a bogey at 14 on the back nine to take his place in the top 10, three shots behind early leader Trevor Fisher, Jr.

The Englishman, who finished T28 at Merion in his first and only appearance in this tournament, started with seven straight pars on his morning lap at Chambers Bay but jumped on the bogey train at 17 and rode it for four straight holes. But from 4-over he made a nice recovery with birdies at 6 and 8 to post a respectable 72. Parry split 11 (of 14) fairways and hit 12 greens in regulation.

That’s just two swings behind leader Thorbjørn Olesen and currently good enough for tied fourth place on the leaderboard with the morning wave just finishing off. The Englishman started with birdies at 10 and 11 and circled two more at 14 and 18. He calmed on his second nine, trading one birdie against a bogey. Parry will feel he could have gone several shots lower after failing to take advantage on the greens.

It was something of a roller-coaster for the Englishman, who followed a double bogey-6 at the fourth hole with an eagle-2 at the fifth. Parry also found birdies at 1 and 9 on the front and surged late on with further par breakers at 13, 15, 16 and 18. Two of his birdies were followed by bogeys but he kept his round going strongly to end just one stroke behind leader Kevin Phelan. Parry is known for his inconsistency and is only 1-for-4 in this event although that was a T17 in 2013. He missed the cut in Joburg last week but that followed a pair of top 20s in India and Thailand.

That’s another solid lap for the unassuming Englishman, who beat double major champion Angel Cabrera by three shots in their two-ball today. Parry looked to be going the wrong way after bogeys at 2 and 4 but reeled off three straight birdies at 6, 7 and 8 to turn in 1-under. He’d go on to swallow bogeys at 11 and 17 but is now in position to try and beat the impressive T28 he managed on his U.S. Open debut at Merion two years ago. The 28-year-old split 11 (of 14) fairways on Saturday and hit 14 greens in regulation.

The Englishman ended a string of three missed cuts with a T16 in the Omega European Masters last month and posted T10 at the Made In Denmark on Sunday. That’s lifted him to 78th spot on the Race To Dubai and within striking distance of the top 60 who qualify for the season-ending DP World Tour Championship, Dubai in November. Parry, whose sole European Tour win came at the Vivendi Cup in France five years ago, has three top 10s this season and four other top 25s. He missed the cut at Albatross last year after rounds of 72-74.

Starting at 10, he set the tone with a trio opening birdies and made a further gain at 15 before dropping his only shot of the day at No. 18. The Englishman arrived within a shot of the lead after further birdies at 3 and 5. Parry missed just two of the Beckenbauer course’s 13 fairways but needed a hot short game to keep his card together. He got up and down five times out of six and was also 2-for-2 in sand saves.

Extreme weather conditions caused the cancellation of the original tournament in March so organisers decided to slot it back into the schedule alongside the new Saltire Energy Paul Lawrie Match Play event in Scotland which is also taking place this week. Both tournaments are being used for the European Tour Fantasy game but managers should be aware that prize money at the Madeira event is only 60% of that on offer in Scotland. However, if you find matchplay too tough to call, one strategy would be to mix the team up and pick some of the most likely players to shine in Madeira. Parry would fall into that category after his T16 in last week’s Omega European Masters. He has six top 25s this season and also a strong record in this event having finished T4 (2012) and T14 (2013) in his only two appearances.