Grant Forrest will take a one-shot lead into the weekend at the Open de España after the Scottish golfer followed his opening 66 with a four-under-par 67 at Real Club de Campo Villa de Madrid on Friday. Forrest reached nine under par, with fellow Scot Connor Syme and Switzerland’s Joel Girrbach his nearest pursuers on eight under.
The halfway position followed a change at the top across the two days. Forrest had been level with Syme and Eugenio Chacarra after Thursday’s first round, then his 67 lifted him clear. His 133 strokes across 36 holes are the combined total of the reported 66 and 67, while the shift from a shared lead to a solo lead shows that Friday’s score was enough to create separation despite being one shot higher than Thursday’s.
Forrest arrived in Madrid after four consecutive missed cuts and a retirement across his previous five Back 9 appearances, according to the DP World Tour. His performance over the first 36 holes has nevertheless continued a strong record at Spain’s national open, where he has twice finished tied third and has never missed the cut in six earlier appearances.
Forrest recovers from early error
Forrest started his second round with a bogey, but the DP World Tour said he steadied himself with birdies at the seventh and eighth after strong approach play. Further gains came at the tenth and 12th, where he converted a 32-foot putt, before another bogey at the 13th briefly interrupted his progress.
He responded immediately with a birdie at the 14th and completed his round with an up-and-down birdie at the last. Forrest said his opening stretch had not contained his best golf, but he had kept his momentum through par saves before driving the ball better over the final 12 holes.
Friday’s card included six birdies, at the seventh, eighth, tenth, 12th, 14th and 18th, alongside the two bogeys. That recovery is important context for the weekend: Forrest did not simply preserve his first-round position, but rebuilt his score after the opening setback and edged ahead of the players who had shared the lead after 18 holes.
Forrest has previously recorded tied-third finishes in Madrid in 2021 and 2024. The course has therefore repeatedly suited him, although his recent run before this week underlines that past results alone offered no guarantee of a renewed challenge.
Scottish challenge remains close
Syme kept pace with a second-round 68 to join Girrbach in second place. The Scot made birdies at the second and fourth either side of a bogey, before holing his third shot from around 60 yards for birdie at the sixth. He added gains at the 14th and 18th to remain within one shot of Forrest.
Girrbach signed for a 66 after recovering from a bogey at the second with five successive birdies from the fourth through eighth. The Swiss player also birdied the tenth and 14th, although dropped shots at the 16th and 17th prevented him from taking the outright lead before a closing birdie.
The leaderboard leaves little room for Forrest to protect a lead rather than continue scoring. Eugenio Chacarra and England’s Joe Dean were two strokes back on seven under, while Jacob Skov Olesen, Jeff Winther, Martin Couvra, Victor Perez and Daniel Hillier were another shot behind them.
Chacarra’s position carries an additional season-long incentive. The DP World Tour said the Spaniard, who is playing with a fractured toe, would move above both Rory McIlroy and Patrick Reed to the top of the Race to Dubai standings if he wins on Sunday. Reed, the standings leader since February according to the tour, missed the cut.
For Forrest, the immediate calculation is straightforward. He has a one-stroke advantage over two players and only two shots separating him from Chacarra and Dean. Sustaining the driving improvement he identified on Friday would help him retain his advantage, but the packed leading group means the margin remains narrow over the final two rounds.