Matthew

Baldwin

The Englishman toppled off the main circuit last year and a brief foray onto the MENA Tour (effectively fourth tier) earned him a win in February and second in March. Now he will seek a first ET strokeplay top ten since he was T10 in last year’s Qatar Masters. In some ways he’ll have fond memories of the event and course. He was T4 here on debut in 2010 and T5 at Golf du Palais Royal in 2013, but his recent ventures here have been much less successful. In fact, they rather mirror his ET career. In other words, diminishing returns. He missed the cut here last year, a third failure to make the weekend in a row at the tournament.

The Englishman is one of those drinking in the last-chance saloon this week and needs a top two finish to retain his playing privileges. After two opening pars, he made his move today by connecting three birdies from Nos. 12-14 and added another at the par-5 17th. He splashed further red at 1, 2 and 5 before dropping his only shot of the day at the long par-4 7th. Unperturbed, Baldwin hit back with a walk-off birdie at 9 to make it a four-way tie at the top alongside David Lipsky, Mikko Korhonen and Callum Shinkwin. The 30-year-old finds himself in this position after failing to register a single top 10 this season. However, that’s something he managed at this venue last year when shooting three 69s and a 66 to post T9. That should give him the confidence to know his late bid for a reprieve might just be successful.

This will be the Englishman’s fourth appearance in the tournament and on the course, and he has fond memories of his first two visits. In 2013 rounds of 71-66-71 had him T10 with 18 holes to play before a 74 saw him drift back to T25. A year later 68-73-70 had him even closer with Sunday to come: he was T5 but a 72 left him T12. Last year he missed the cut, but there has to be promise in those early efforts, and he can call on the memory of two top 25 on the Challenge Tour in Austria as well. He lost his card last year and is flitting between the main tour and Challenge circuit this term. He was T9 in the Kenya Open and three weeks ago a quarter finalist in the Andalucia Match Play.

That impressive lap puts him T1 in the clubhouse with Nico Geyger and Gavin Green while Jorge Campillo (17) and Jeff Winther (12) are yet to finish. It looked as if Baldwin would lead on his own after he headed to his final hole, the ninth, at 5-under but he dropped his only shot of the day there. Previously, he’d made four birdies on his opening nine (10, 11, 15 and 16) and added a final circle of the day at 4 on a quieter second nine. Baldwin has cashed in five of his last six starts and one other little note is that he has good previous memories of this venue having finished T8 here when it staged the 2005 European Amateur Championship. That good display 13 years ago left him just one shot behind a certain Rory McIlroy. “I’ve been hitting the ball really nicely so it was definitely in there. It’s just I putted really well today,” he said.

That’s job done for the Englishman with the top 64 at halfway contesting a different format (head-to-head matchplay knockout over nine holes) on the weekend. The top 16 have the additional benefit of automatically progressing if their last 64 match ends in a tie so Baldwin is looking good for that too given his current position of T5, three behind leader Jorge Campillo. He continued his progress today with gains at 3 and 5 although there was a slight wobble as he swallowed bogeys at 6 and 9 to turn in 36. There were no mistakes coming home though and he added a further birdie at 12.

Baldwin had two top fives in the space of three starts at the Irish and French Opens that season while also finishing runner-up in the Nelson Mandela Championship to show he can flourish in South Africa. It’s been a tough few years since due to injury and a subsequent loss of form but the 32-year-old is showing some promising signs again. Baldwin was T19 in December’s Joburg Open (another positive for location form) and his top 10 in Qatar came via consistent scores of 68-70-68-69. He’s 0-for-2 at this week’s venue, Pretoria CC, but those events came when he was struggling. His other South African results (five top 25s, including two top fives) down the years indicate that he could be one to watch here.

The Englishman bogeyed No. 2 and also swallowed a walk-off square but between those two blemishes there was plenty of good stuff, especially on the back nine. Baldwin had to wait until the eighth hole for his first red number of the day as he turned in even-par 36 but he made a move after the turn with circles at 11, 12, 14 and 16. Scoring has been good at Silkeborg Ry GC and there’s plenty of scope for the afternoon starters to join in the fun but Baldwin enters the weekend in a healthy position to boost his current Race to Dubai position of 176th.

That faultless afternoon lap put the World No. 788 in a tie for second spot, two back from leader Jonathan Thomson. Baldwin made an early surge with birdie-4 at 11 followed by eagle-2 at the 322-yard 12th. He bedded in after that with nine straight pars before kicking on again by sprinkling red circles at 4, 6 and 8 to match his outward 33. The Englishman was T9 at the Belgian Knockout before his slump, starting that event with 67. This is his first opener in the 60s since then so he’ll hope it can pave the way for another strong finish. He came into the tournament ranked 176th on the Race to Dubai.

Baldwin has missed seven of his last 13 cuts and managed just one finish better than T39 in that period but is enjoying his week in Doha after moving to 8-under 208. That makes him just five off the pace with 18 to play. The Englishman returned a colorful card on Friday with six birdies and four bogeys. The quartet of blemishes came at two, six, 11 and 13 and meant he couldn’t cash in on the birdies he authored at one, eight, nine, 10, 14 and 16. Baldwin was T22 in this event last year and has cashed on both his starts in Doha.

The Englishman showed flickers of form again with a T23 in Qatar and is showing up strongly here after reaching 8-under 136 at the midpoint -- just three off the lead. Baldwin is basing his challenge so far on strong iron play and has hit 14 greens in regulation in both rounds. He’s also shown a tidy short game and is 7-for-8 in scrambling. The 28-year-old started today’s lap with three straight birdies from the 10th and buried three more on his second nine. His only blemish came at the 16th.