David Ravetto, a name that might not yet be familiar in every household, but certainly one to remember after today, lit up the D+D REAL Czech Masters like a firecracker on the Fourth of July.
The 27-year-old Frenchman blistered his way to a nine-under-par 63 at PGA National OAKS Prague, a round so sharp it could slice through butter—setting the course record alongside Andrew “Beef” Johnston.
Starting his day from the 10th tee, Ravetto kept things relatively calm—by his standards—with birdies at the 11th, 13th, and 16th.
It was like watching a master chef add a little seasoning before serving the main course.
But once he made the turn, the lad turned into a man on a mission. Birdies at the first and second holes saw him leapfrog his way up the leaderboard faster than a caffeinated kangaroo.
By the time he reached the ninth hole, he was tied in a four-way logjam at 12 under par.
Now, here’s where things got spicy. The ninth is a par five that doesn’t take kindly to being bullied.
Aiming to flirt with the left-hand bunker, Ravetto pulled his drive slightly into the native area.
No matter, though. He then uncorked a second shot from 272 yards that was so pure it probably made the golf gods weep with joy.
A quick chip and a steady birdie later, and Ravetto had cemented his place at the top of the leaderboard.
David Ravetto: “I feel really good. I was super happy at the beginning of the week to come back and play tournament golf after a nice break for holiday.
I’ve been playing really good the last few weeks practising and today was just a perfect round. The putts fell in and I couldn’t ask for more.
“Good start of the round, I guess the back nine is I guess a bit tougher than the front nine. I was four under yesterday, should have been comfortable for the cut, but you know, Fridays are always a bit tougher.
I started really well, holed a nice put on 11 and saved a really nice par on 12. My run was going and then I just kept on going.”
But don’t think this Frenchman is resting easy just yet. Hot on his heels are Johnston, who earlier matched the course record, Scotland’s Richie Ramsay, and Sweden’s Jesper Svensson. All three are sitting pretty at 12 under par, just one shot behind Ravetto.
A day of low scoring in the Czech capital saw another slice of history when PGA TOUR winner Kevin Chappell carded a flawless 63, equaling the course record yet again.
And if that’s not enough excitement for you, then hold onto your hats, because the third round is going to be a two-tee start due to some gnarly weather rolling in. The final tee time? A cosy 9:30 am, local time.
Scores after round two:
131 D RAVETTO (FRA) 68 63,
132 R RAMSAY (SCO) 65 67, J SVENSSON (SWE) 65 67, A JOHNSTON (ENG) 69 63,
133 E KOFSTAD (NOR) 68 65, B ROBINSON THOMPSON (ENG) 65 68,
134 B WIESBERGER (AUT) 67 67, C SYME (SCO) 69 65, R FISHER (ENG) 67 67,
135 A SADDIER (FRA) 66 69, O WILSON (ENG) 67 68, C SORDET (FRA) 67 68, S KANG (KOR) 65 70, F SCHOTT (GER) 69 66, F LAPORTA (ITA) 69 66, R MANSELL (ENG) 69 66,
136 D VAN DRIEL (NED) 68 68, B SNEDEKER (USA) 68 68, M KAWAMURA (JPN) 67 69, P MOOLMAN (RSA) 64 72, A SULLIVAN (ENG) 70 66, M ROTTLUFF (GER) 65 71, K CHAPPELL (USA) 73 63, S FRIEDRICHSEN (DEN) 67 69,
137 B RUSCH (SUI) 68 69, L RUUSKA (FIN) 71 66, N BACHEM (GER) 68 69, S V?LIM?KI (FIN) 71 66, P WARING (ENG) 68 69, T TILLMANNS (GER) 68 69, T CLEMENTS (ENG) 71 66, J LUITEN (NED) 68 69, J GUERRIER (FRA) 66 71,
138 N GALLETTI (USA) 71 67, L NEMECZ (AUT) 68 70, Y PAUL (GER) 73 65, R LANGASQUE (FRA) 73 65, N NORGAARD (DEN) 71 67, J BLIXT (SWE) 67 71, M SCHNEIDER (GER) 71 67, M KINHULT (SWE) 71 67, N VON DELLINGSHAUSEN (GER) 67 71, A PAVAN (ITA) 68 70, A ARNAUS (ESP) 66 72, N ELVIRA (ESP) 70 68, F LACROIX (FRA) 68 70, R GOUVEIA (POR) 66 72, M BALDWIN (ENG) 70 68, K BROBERG (SWE) 67 71, J DAVIDSON (WAL) 72 66,
139 J DE BRUYN (GER) 66 73, J DEAN (ENG) 70 69, E PEPPERELL (ENG) 69 70, S BAIRSTOW (ENG) 66 73, A HIDALGO (ESP) 71 68, S ZACH (CZE) 67 72, F MOLINARI (ITA) 71 68, E MOLINARI (ITA) 69 70, H LONG (GER) 69 70, S FORSSTR?M (SWE) 72 67, T AIKEN (RSA) 72 67,
140 R WILLIAMS (RSA) 71 69, B FOLLETT-SMITH (ZIM) 72 68, A FITZPATRICK (ENG) 70 70, B STONE (RSA) 72 68, S TARRIO (ESP) 69 71, K JOHANNESSEN (NOR) 73 67, J FAHRBRING (SWE) 70 70, D BRADBURY (ENG) 69 71, J DANTORP (SWE) 71 69, M PENGE (ENG) 67 73, J MORRISON (ENG) 70 70, F MRUZEK (CZE) 71 69, A WU (CHN) 70 70, D HORSEY (ENG) 71 69,
141 S JONES (NZL) 69 72, M JORDAN (ENG) 70 71, T MCKIBBIN (NIR) 73 68, D WHITNELL (ENG) 68 73, M KIEFFER (GER) 65 76, M SCHWAB (AUT) 71 70, A COCKERILL (CAN) 70 71, T LEWIS (ENG) 70 71, J KO (FRA) 71 70, G PORTEOUS (ENG) 69 72, D BROWN (ENG) 69 72, P HRUBY (CZE) 72 69, L SCALISE (ITA) 70 71, A KNAPPE (GER) 70 71, J KRUYSWIJK (RSA) 67 74, J G?TH-RASMUSSEN (DEN) 73 68,
142 D LAW (SCO) 69 73, R CABRERA BELLO (ESP) 70 72, C SHINKWIN (ENG) 73 69, S KJELDSEN (DEN) 70 72, J GUMBERG (USA) 70 72, U COUSSAUD (FRA) 72 70, M KORHONEN (FIN) 69 73, J NICHOLAS (USA) 70 72, A ROZNER (FRA) 68 74, A OTAEGUI (ESP) 68 74, D MICHELUZZI (AUS) 71 71, J HARDING (RSA) 74 68,
143 L DONALD (ENG) 72 71, J WINTHER (DEN) 71 72, S BROHOLT LIND (DEN) 74 69, M SOUTHGATE (ENG) 74 69, K APHIBARNRAT (THA) 71 72, R PARATORE (ITA) 73 70, S GARCIA (ESP) 74 69, I CANTERO (ESP) 71 72, A MARTIN (AUS) 74 69, J SMITH (ENG) 74 69, J DUFNER (USA) 74 69, O LIESER (CZE) 72 71,
144 T VAILLANT (FRA) 72 72, M JELINEK (AM) (CZE) 73 71, A GARCIA-HEREDIA (ESP) 72 72, H BARRON (AUS) 71 73, R HISATSUNE (JPN) 71 73, S GALLACHER (SCO) 73 71, S MATUS (CZE) 73 71, G WIEBE (USA) 71 73, W ENEFER (ENG) 72 72, O BEKKER (RSA) 72 72,
145 R SABBATINI (SVK) 71 74, C JARVIS (RSA) 71 74, M EGE (NOR) 75 70, M ELVIRA (ESP) 71 74, M ARMITAGE (ENG) 75 70, J PRINSLOO (RSA) 74 71, G BLOOR (ENG) 76 69, G HURLEY (IRL) 74 71,
146 J HEJLEK (AM) (CZE) 70 76, G CHEN (CHN) 73 73, O CHOUHAN (IND) 74 72, R ENOCH (WAL) 72 74,
147 D WILLETT (ENG) 76 71, D HUIZING (NED) 71 76, S MANLEY (WAL) 72 75, A DEL REY (ESP) 79 68,
148 J GIRRBACH (SUI) 77 71, J SCRIVENER (AUS) 71 77, M BESARD (BEL) 73 75,
149 P FIGUEIREDO (POR) 78 71, J BERRY (ENG) 77 72,
150 W DE VRIES (NED) 77 73,
151 S VIDA (SVK) 76 75,
152 F CELLI (ITA) 83 69,
154 L KOMRSKA (CZE) 76 78,
155 C HANNA (USA) 74 81,
156 G BRIXI (CZE) 78 78,
166 D SIWY (AM) (CZE) 77 89,
**
OUT O STRYDOM (RSA) 76 WD, T POWER HORAN (AUS) RT ,
