Ross

Fisher

The 40-year-old Englishman won the 2008 European Open at the Jack Nicklaus-designed Heritage Course at London Golf Club, which is playing host to the European Tour for the first time since the 2014 Volvo World Match Play (won by Finland’s Mikko Ilonen). Fisher finished at 20-under 268 to beat Sergio Garcia by seven shots. This week, the five-time ET winner will aim to build some momentum after finishing T-56 last week at the Hero Open. On the season, Fisher has made eight cuts in 15 starts with his best finishes coming at the Made in HimmerLand (T-8) and the Scottish Open (T-15). He last visited the winner’s circle in 2014 at the Tshwane Open and last recorded a podium finish in 2018 at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship (second).

Fisher has recorded a pair of T6s in three starts on the European Tour this season (Abu Dhabi and Saudi International), boosting his world ranking from 215th to 170th. Today, the 39-year-old outpaced two bogeys with six birdies. His round got off to a mixed start with bogeys at 11 and 15 although he bounced back with a birdie (12 and 16) each time. That meant a first nine of even-par 36 but coming home Fisher ticked 2, 3, 7 and 9 to jump into the top three. He tweeted later: “Nice solid opener today. Game felt solid all morning. Drove it nicely, hit lots of greens (16) and took my chances when they came.”

Five of the top seven on the halfway leaderboard made the top 20 here at Royal Greens in the inaugural edition last year and Fisher is one of them. He shot 65-72-65-69 for T13 last year so is three shots better thru 36 holes this time. Today, he had a relatively quiet opening nine with a birdie at 10, a bogey at 16 and seven pars. But coming home it was a wild ride as the Englishman birdied 2, bogeyed 3, birdied 4, 5 and 7 and dropped another at 8. The World No. 190 is a five-time European Tour winner but hasn’t posted a victory since 2014.

The Englishman had a birdie-bogey-birdie run from No. 2 before adding circles at 6 and 9. Coming home, he was quieter with a bogey at 10 and red numbers at 13 and 17. Asked to describe his round, he said: “I’d say probably gutsy, I guess. Wasn’t anywhere near as good as yesterday. It’s been a while since being in the mix like that last week on a weekend. So you know, was really excited for the day ahead. I played some good stuff. A couple of sloppy shots here and there. Felt like I kept the ball in play pretty well. Maybe a couple of shots didn’t quite go according to plan, but nice to roll that putt in on the last, sign for 68 and look ahead to what could be a great day tomorrow.” The 38-year-old has five European Tour wins but hasn’t added to that tally since 2014. He ranks 106th on the Race to Dubai.

The Englishman arrived in Turkey ranked a lowly 106th on the Race to Dubai, but he insisted after his stellar Friday effort that he had been playing better than that. “The game’s been good for a while,” he said. “Just haven’t really shot the scores that feel like the way I’m playing. Came here with high expectations and I want to finish the year strong then come back out next year with the game where it is at the moment.” In his second lap he was good on the back nine (birdies at 1, 3, 4 and 6, a bogey at 7) and sensational on the way home (par breakers at 11, 13, 15, 16 and 18). He set the clubhouse target and was joined on that number by Danny Willett, Thomas Detry, Alex Noren and passed by Matthias Schwab (on 12-under).

The Englishman has had a bleak 2019 and as such sits at a lowly 106th on the Race to Dubai. Moreover, because he tees it up at Montgomerie Maxx Royal in Belek on that invite, he can win money, but not the points. It is the first time he has ever completed a European Tour season and not finished in double figures. Indeed, he’s not been so lowly since he was 66th as a rookie in 2006. The cause is relatively straightforward: Not one top ten and a best of T13 in the Maybank Championship. He finished T10 at the course in 2013, T25 a year later, but T68 in 2015 and T64 when he played Carya 12 months ago.

Fisher made two eagles in his opening 69 and was over par for the day with three to play when he stepped onto the 7th tee. The Englishman came up with eagle-3 to get under par and then followed it with another at the par-4 8th after holing a wedge from 77 yards with his second shot. In the circumstances, he did well to keep a lid on his emotions and par the last. On his front nine, Fisher’s wild ride included birdies at 11, 13, 14 and 17 alongside bogeys at 12 and 15. The round appeared to be getting away from him when he made a hat-trick of bogeys at 1, 2 and 3 but then came those pair of gamer-friendly eagles.

The Englishman likes this event. He is 11-for-13 in it and that includes eight top 25 finishes, five of them top ten and one win at Killarney in 2010. That said his results on linksland have been among the least impressive: T50 at County Louth, T10 at Royal Portrush, T35 at Royal County Down. His form is not great however. He missed the cut in both the BMW International Open and Andalucia Masters, although he did contend briefly when T15 at the British Masters. Longer term he finished second three times in six starts at the end of 2017/start of 2018 but has had just one top five finish since and it is over five years now since he last tasted triumph.

The afternoon session is now in play and a lack of wind and a soft course should promote good scoring but, as it stands, Fisher is three strokes clear of the group in tied fourth. Starting at 10, he set the tone with a pair of opening birdies and added another at 13. A further par breaker at 17 took him out in 32. The Englishman swallowed his only bogey of the day at No. 1 but that setback sparked a run of four straight birdies from Nos. 2-5 to take him to 11-under. Last week in China he shot a Friday 76 to miss the cut. Today, he went 11 shots lower and is now in great position to mount a weekend challenge at his home event.

There was a time when Fisher’s stock, even on the links, was so high that he was a 33/1 shot to win the 2009 Open Championship. Despite having twice finished runner-up in the Dunhill Links Championship since then that seems a little hard to believe now, although he was T13 in that tournament ten years ago. However he has no top 20 in five tries on English links, one in four on Irish links, and six in 27 appearances on Scottish links. He has made two top 20s this season, both T13 at the Saudi International and Maybank Championship. He shot 67-76 to miss the cut last week in China.