Richard McEvoy starts the BMW Italian Open on a high note, in a bid to surge into the top-115 in the money list
Richard McEvoy of England carded a bogey-free six-under par 66 and shared the third position, heading into the second round of the BMW Italian Open presented by CartaSi.
McEvoy currently ranks 143rd in The Race to Dubai and desperately needs to finish strongly at the Royal Park I Roveri, if he wants to list his name among the top-115 players in the rankings.
According to the European Tour qualifying rules, the top-115 players in the money list will be entitled to retain their European Tour cards for the 2013 golf season.
Therefore, he was pleased with his performance on day one, as he can now contend for at least a top-10 finish this week.
“My game has been solid, but I've been unhappy a lot this season,” said McEvoy. “I started seeing a new coach a couple of months ago - Jonathan Yarwood - and the work we've been doing has been going really well. But I haven't shot a round of five or six
under for a while, so it's pleasing to do it today”.
He added, “I haven't been hitting the ball close enough to make many birdies, and I haven't been confident enough with my swing to go at pins. That's been the main reason, but now I'm feeling a lot better with my swing and my game”.
McEvoy started off strongly on the front nine and parred the first hole, followed by a birdie on the second. He then added another two shots on the fifth and eighth hole to reach the turn with a three-under par.
Thereafter, he continued his good run and turned in the balls for birdies on the 11th, 14th and the 18th hole, to settle two strokes behind the leader Joel Sjöholm.
Victor Dubuisson, Keith Horne, Garth Mulroy, Gareth Maybin, Richard Bland and David Howell were the other six players who posted rounds of 66 and joined McEvoy on the leaderboard.
Bland, in the meantime, is another player who currently seeks a good finish to make it to the top-15 in The Race to Dubai, in a bid to play on the bigger tour next year too.
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