S. S. P. Chawrasia flew on the wings of a great eagle to ensure weekend action at the BMW PGA Championship. Chawrasia, four-time winner on the European Tour, including his home open, the Hero Indian Open last two years, was tied 37th, as he made a great recovery from a troubled start.
He had two bogeys in first three holes, but a morale boosting bogey followed by steady pars saw him turn in one-over at which point he was one-over for the tournament. A bogey on 10th put him in danger, but a brilliant eagle on par-5 12th saw him get to even and he was steady thereafter.
He hit a fine drive and then produced a brilliant second shot with 5-Iron and landed to four feet for an eagle, which he duly converted. Six pars followed and he ensured a chance to improve on his showing over the weekend.
Chawrasia was tied-27 last year at the same event, but his best finish has been tied-15 in 2012. This is his ninth appearance in the BMW PGA. At the top, Francesco Molinari produced a birdie-birdie finish to share the lead with Scott Jamieson and Thomas Pieters heading into the weekend.
Belgian Pieters set the target at seven under early in the day with a 69 but Scotsman Jamieson and Italian Molinari both fired rounds of 70 to join him, with an intimidating chasing pack gathering behind them.
German Maximilian Kieffer was then at six under, with Byeong-hun An, Branden Grace, Henrik Stenson and Lee Westwood in a group at five under with 41 European Tour wins between them. Defending Italian Open champion Molinari was struggling to find his rhythm and was level par for the day as he stood on the 17th tee but found some late magic.
He took advantage of the first of the closing par fives and then hit a stunning second into the last to set up an eagle chance for the solo lead that he left just short. Overnight leader Johan Carlsson was also at five under after the Swede fired a one over par 73. Andrew Dodt, Oliver Fisher, Graeme Storm and Jaco Van Zyl were then all three shots off the lead.
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