Chris Doak laboured his way through a 12-hour shift to put himself in contention in the 60th anniversary BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth.
Doak was among 33 players unable to finish his opening round after two stoppages on Thursday resulted in a near two-hour delay to play in the Tour’s flagship event.
The proud Greenock golfer was three under par and hadn’t dropped a shot when darkness halted play just after 8.30pm and with Doak having pared the 14th on the West Course.
Chris Doak labours for 12 hours to be three under par after 36 holes of the BMW PGA. (Photo – Stuart Adams/www.golftourimages.com)
Doak had the alarm set for 4.30am and was on the 15th tee for yesterday’s (FRD) 7.15am resumption.
He pared all four closing holes and then after a two-hour break, including a second breakfast of bacon and eggs, Doak was back on the course enduring intermittent shoulders to post a level par 72 to remain at three under par.
The Scot ended his round at 4pm just three shots behind clubhouse leader Rafa Cabrera-Bello of Spain who was at six under par and with first round leader, Thomas Bjorn of Denmark dropping two shots to be back to eight under par mid round.
It was little wonder Doak was heading straight back to his hotel.
He said: “I’m feeling really knackered. I’m just so tired and I’m going back to my bed and not waking up to nine in the morning.
“But it’s been a good day in the end.
“The conditions were hard out there this morning when I started my second round as the wind was swirling around a lot.”
Doak bogeyed his first but then birdied the second, fourth and sixth holes to now be four under par before a back nine of a 12th hole birdie but bogeys at 16 and 17.
He said: “I managed to get that shot back I dropped at the first but towards the end of my round my legs were just flagging and just tired.
“But after two long days it’s been good now to make the cut for a second year in a row.”
Doak said he’s been benefitting from a short-game lesson by Roger Cleveland, inventor of the famed Cleveland wedges with the American present at Wentworth earlier in the week.
He said: “My short game is a lot sharper this week and that’s been down to getting a lesson from Roger Cleveland at the start of the week, and that helped a lot.
“And Bob (Torrance) is still helping me, even though he hasn’t been that well of late, but that’s coming along.
“Mentally, I also feel strong and much better than I was feeling last year.”
The 36-year old arrived at Tour HQ lying well down in 126th place on the Race to Dubai after having ended 2013 with a career best of 101st.
However injury has seen Doak having to withdraw from three of 14 events on the 2013/14 wraparound schedule and his best result being T15th in the recent Volvo China Open.
He said: “I am ahead of where I was this time last year, so that’s positive but then I have not kicked on as much as I thought I would but I remain hopeful.
“I fell in January on the pavement hurting my right knee, so that hasn’t helped and while it’s still sore, it’s getting better.”
Marc Warren scored a one stroke victory over playing partner Paul Lawrie over the two days shooting a 69 to Lawrie’s 71 and move to two under par and one clear of the former Open Champion.
And after the disappointment of losing out in a play-off at Wentworth a year ago, Warren is drawing on memories of going so close to success.
He said: “It’s been nice to come back to Wentworth this year, and I have plenty of good memories and reminders.
“Little things like the shot on 18 was exactly the same shot I tried to play last year, the third shot. So it’s nice to go round in practice chatting about where the pins were going to be.”
Last year’s BMW PGA was also the first event his young son, Archie was present.
Warren said: “Archie’s been to quite a few tournaments since then, and I am thinking of getting him his own Emirates frequent flyer card.”
Lawrie capped his round with birdies at 16 and 17 and declaring he’s back to near full fitness after returning to competition last week in Spain from a 14-week absence.
He said: “My fitness is pretty good although it’s not 100%. But it’s not so much about the fitness. It’s just when you’re not playing it’s difficult to score. You can’t seem to get the ball around like you would if you were fully fit.
“But there’s no soreness in my shoulder. It’s 100% brand new, so I feel good as I could at my age.”
