Andy DevaneyEugenio Chacarra seized control of the DS Automobiles 83° Open d’Italia on Saturday, turning a four-shot deficit into a two-shot lead with a composed third-round 65 at Circolo Golf Torino.
The Spaniard, 26, began the day looking up at Joaquín Niemann. By the end of it, Niemann and Matt Wallace were the ones doing the staring, both sitting at 15 under par while Chacarra reached 17 under and walked off looking like a man who had discovered the thermostat and decided Turin was not quite hot enough.
It was moving day in the fullest sense: sweaty, awkward, occasionally unkind, and thoroughly revealing. Chacarra went out in 32, absorbed a bogey at the 13th without drama, then added three more birdies on the way home to finish six under for the round. That sort of score usually comes with a bit of sparkle. This one came with more of a shrug, which is often more frightening.
Chacarra Keeps His Head While Turin Gets Toasty
Chacarra’s round began with an early birdie, then paused for breath until the 7th, where he began a run of three birdies before the turn. It was not quite a charge with bayonets fixed; more a steady tightening of the screws.
The conditions at Circolo Golf Torino were hardly decorative. Heat, changing winds and increasingly unpredictable greens made patience less a virtue than a survival mechanism. Chacarra appeared to understand that better than most.
He is already sixth on the Race to Dubai Rankings Delivered by DP World and is now chasing a second DP World Tour title in three weeks, having won the KLM Open in Amsterdam earlier this month. That is useful form. More importantly, it is useful self-belief.
Eugenio Chacarra: It was good. It wasn’t playing easy. The afternoon, the winds were changing a lot. Obviously the greens, some of them receive, some of them bounce. With the heat that we’re having these days, it’s hard for the course to not be wet, so it’s just a challenge, you know. I think I did a great job staying patient like I did all week. I think just playing my game, control what I can control, have a good, positive attitude and just go from there.
I have enough with myself that if I need to focus on Joaquín or what other guys are doing, I think I’ll be crazy. So no, I think that’s one of the things I work a lot with my team and with my mental coach, just control what I can control, and that’s my game, my decisions, my swings, and that’s what I’m focusing on and what I’m doing and trying to do my best. I can’t control what Joaquín or Matt or Ángel (Ayora) – I mean, there’s a lot of great guys coming behind me. And on this course, you can go really low like we’ve seen.
Tomorrow with the early tee time, greens are going to be a little more receptive and better also. So obviously people can go low – and not even those, there’s a lot of guys behind that played low this morning and they can have another low one tomorrow. So there’s a lot of golf left. I need to just focus on what I can control, and hopefully I can perform as good as well and have a chance down the stretch.
I’m just trying to play as good as I can, control what can I control, and see where that takes me, you know. I already proved myself. I’m one of the best players in the world when I’m playing my game and when I’m playing good, so that’s why I come every week, I try to win every tournament I play.
Obviously, there are tremendous players behind me and in the field every week here on the DP World Tour, so it’s not always easy. But just giving me chances and learning and getting better, that’s what I want to get to.
To get to the PGA TOUR and be one of the best players in the world, you need to be in these positions and try to be as comfortable as possible, and that’s what I’m trying, you know. Trying to have fun, execute the shots, and control what I can control.
Niemann’s Back Nine Opens The Door
Niemann began Saturday as the 36-hole leader and, for nine holes, looked entirely comfortable in that role. Five birdies and a single bogey on the front nine gave the Chilean breathing room and suggested the rest might spend the afternoon squinting at him from a distance.
Then came the back nine, where golf, with its usual bedside manner, removed the cushions.
Three consecutive dropped shots after the turn brought the field back into the conversation. Another bogey at the 15th did further damage, and although a birdie-bogey finish steadied the scoreboard, Niemann signed for an even-par 71. He is still very much alive at 15 under, but he had the lead in his hands and watched it wriggle loose.
Joaquín Niemann: I played great the front nine. I hit great shots, great putts, and I felt like kind of that same way on the back nine. Obviously, the scores didn’t reflect that. I had a few missed shots, missed second shots, ended up in the wrong spot, but yeah, I mean, the good thing, after shooting a 39 on a back nine and on Saturday, I still have a chance to win tomorrow. I mean, I’m lucky. So yeah, I’m looking forward for tomorrow and have a great day.
I felt like I was playing in the fifth set of a tennis match. I was tired, I was hot, it was humid. I was sweating. But yeah, the course is still pretty similar. It’s probably getting a little bit firmer, which makes it a little bit more interesting. But yeah, it’s playing good.
Just going to look back to the round and, I mean, I was feeling great. Didn’t hit the right shots in the right moment and, you know, that’s how the game works. If I look back to all the nine holes that I’ve been playing since Thursday, I’ve been going pretty low and that’s the only bad nine holes that I had through all the week. I’m just going to take the good and hopefully put two good nine holes together and go from there.
Wallace Refuses To Drift Away
Matt Wallace, meanwhile, remains the sort of nuisance every leader would rather not see in the rear-view mirror. After a record-breaking second-round 62, the Englishman followed with a 67 that was not flawless, but was admirably tidy.
Four birdies on the front nine and two more on the back kept him moving. A bogey on each side of the card slowed him, but did not derail him. In this sort of heat, and on a course beginning to bare its teeth, that counts for plenty.
Wallace sits alongside Niemann at 15 under, two shots behind Chacarra. He will be in the final group on Sunday, which is exactly where a player of his temperament tends to become difficult to ignore.
Matt Wallace: From a mental standpoint, it was really calm. It was chill. It was efficient. You know, we had mistakes in there, which we backed up and came out of them the other side. Bounce-back birdie after hitting it in the water – which, I didn’t think I hit a bad shot. I’ve started two nine irons just a little bit right there on 18 and 13, so that’s the two shots that I’d love to have back today, and that’s it. So yeah, professional round.
I’ve been working hard (at putting) – really hard, because it’s been a weakness of mine – so it’s really nice to have a couple of days. You know, yesterday I had to make a few putts to shoot that score. Today was that sort of round that kept it going. I holed a good few putts in the middle of the round. Six for par, that was great, and then 10 with a long one. So yeah, you know, it was one of those days that wasn’t perfect, but it was also really good to keep me in the hunt for tomorrow.
My job is to be in my own world tomorrow, my own bubble. You can’t win it on Saturday, and it felt out there a few times that people were trying to win it today, and I was just trying to stick in. So tomorrow’s my day to go out there and try and win it and, yeah, I’ll give it my all.
Sunday Storms Add Another Layer
The final group at the DS Automobiles 83° Open d’Italia will bring together Chacarra, Niemann and Wallace, with the format and tee times adjusted because of predicted afternoon thunderstorms.
That may sound like a scheduling note, but it matters. Earlier starts can bring more receptive greens, slightly different scoring conditions and a different rhythm to the day. Chacarra knows it. So does everyone chasing him.
Behind the lead trio, Germany’s Nicolai von Dellinghausen and Spain’s Ángel Ayora share fourth at 13 under, with South Africa’s Dylan Frittelli in sixth. Dane Jeff Winther, who equalled the course record set by Wallace, and Scotland’s Richie Ramsay are tied seventh at 11 under.
In other words, the front of the leaderboard is not exactly deserted. It is more like a crowded airport lounge with everyone pretending not to look at the same departure gate.
Chacarra Has The Lead, Not The Luxury
Chacarra has two shots in hand and the calmest-looking scorecard from Saturday’s contenders. That is an advantage, not a guarantee. Circolo Golf Torino has already shown it can give with one hand and confiscate with the other, usually while wearing a pleasant expression.
For Chacarra, the task is simple in theory and much less so in practice: keep doing precisely what brought him here. For Niemann, it is about proving Saturday’s back nine was a bruise rather than a break. For Wallace, it is about staying in that “bubble” long enough to make the others uncomfortable.
The DS Automobiles 83° Open d’Italia now has the Sunday it deserved: three serious players, one narrow lead, storms in the forecast and a leaderboard with just enough mischief in it. Golf rarely needs much encouragement to become strange. In Turin, it has already loosened its tie.
