As a South African, he cannot compete in the Ryder Cup, but Hennie Otto may still have played a significant part in deciding Europe’s team in the Italian Open.
Otto carded a stunning 10-under-par 62 at Circolo Golf Torino yesterday, just five minutes before Stephen Gallacher began his second round in the final qualifying event for September’s Ryder Cup.
Gallacher needs to finish in the top two on Sunday to replace Graeme McDowell in the last automatic qualifying place and admitted his thoughts on seeing the leaderboard, with Otto 15-under and Bernd Wiesberger 12-under, were not fit for public consumption.
However, the 39-year-old Scot kept his hopes of securing a Ryder Cup debut on home soil alive – he lives just 60kms from the venue – thanks to a superb 65 which featured an eagle, a double bogey and seven birdies, six of them coming in a back nine of 30.
“When you tee it up 15 and 12 behind, you know you’re going to have to be more aggressive and make some birdies so I was delighted to shoot 65 with a double bogey,” said Gallacher, whose seven-under total leaves him eight off the lead and five behind second in joint ninth.
“It would be nice to follow it up with more of the same. I knew I had to go low and I’m just delighted to get on a run on the back nine.
“I don’t think I could say on air what I was thinking when I saw the leaderboard at lunch. It was a strange feeling. I was looking at the guy who was second to be honest to try and catch him up a bit.
“There are two more rounds and a lot can happen. Just to be in with a shout on Sunday is all you can ask.”
Gallacher started in ideal fashion, hitting a seven iron to six feet for an eagle on the first and also making a birdie on the fifth, but was briefly outside the projected cut when he found the trees on the sixth and three-putted for a double-bogey six.
However, a superb approach to the 10th kickstarted a run of six birdies in eight holes and ensured European captain Paul McGinley, who missed the cut, will have plenty to occupy his time this weekend.
McGinley admitted after the opening round that Turin native Francesco Molinari was “very much on my mind” in terms of Tuesday’s announcement of his three wild cards, but a second round of 72 left the Italian nine shots behind Otto.
“It’s a step back but there are two more days so let’s see what happens at the weekend,” said Molinari, who feels he needs to win his national open for a second time to earn a third consecutive cup appearance.
