MADRID — Eugenio Chacarra proved the old adage to beware the injured golfer as he carded a five-under-par 66 in the opening round of the Open de Espana at Real Club de Campo Villa de Madrid despite limping with a broken toe, moving into second on the leaderboard but facing a difficult decision over whether to continue.
The 26-year-old, born and raised in the Spanish capital, has extra motivation at his national open and arrives third in the Race To Dubai standings with a chance to close the 600-point gap on the leader. With Rory McIlroy not playing in Spain and Patrick Reed struggling to a two-over 73 in his first round, Chacarra's 66 put him in a strong position to cut the deficit and he could even move to the top of the standings with a victory, a scenario that makes a potential withdrawal even more painful. The context follows Reed leading McIlroy by 308 points as the Race to Dubai goes to the wire.
Chacarra broke his toe in a freak accident at home after kicking his own sofa while up in the middle of the night and said the pain was so severe that if it was not his national open he would not have teed off on Thursday. He admitted the effort of walking was taking a heavy toll despite being able to swing freely. "It's just been tough," Chacarra told the DP World Tour after his round. "I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow but I need to take care of myself and obviously I got a good round but just how I feel physically it's not great. It's just hard. It's a struggle. It doesn't really hurt when I'm swinging, that's the only good thing, that's why I can still make a score but it's just been really tough to walk. I made it today but the pain I had in the last 12 holes walking is something that I don't know if it's worth it because I've got a lot to play in the next couple of weeks, so I'll just sit down with the team and see what we decide because it was tough."
The Spaniard said he has 24 hours to rest before assessing how he feels in the morning, weighing the chance of a home title and Race to Dubai gains against a busy closing schedule that includes four remaining events after Spain with trips to India and Korea before the play-offs in the Middle East. "I got 24 hours to rest now and see how it feels in the morning, I dont know if it's worth it to feel this pain and I've got four weeks to play that are important," he added. "But this one's important to me, that's why I can tell you right now if it was another event I wouldn't tee it off this week. So I just need to see with the team, the doctor and my physio and see what we can do."