Eugenio López Chacarra (-12) will fight this Sunday for the third professional victory of his career and the second in the Asian Tour after delivering a magnificent card of 68 strokes, five under par, on the third day of the International Series of Morocco. If anything, this week is serving the Madrid golfer who plays in LIV Golf to show that he has ample resources in his bag. On Thursday he nailed it from the tee, on Friday he clung to his short game and putt to save a twisted day and today Saturday he has treated himself with the irons. One way or another, he manages to be up, to play under par and to be around the victory.
For now, with his round of 68 strokes without bogeys and with five birdies, Eugenio has sneaked into the stellar match on Sunday, alongside John Catlin (-14), yes, Catlin again, and Ben Campbell (-13). The Spanish golfer will start at a disadvantage, but 18 holes are molto longos enough not to think that those two strokes can be made up in a flash. It will not be easy to oust the Madrid player from the fight if he makes use of all the skills he has put on the green of the Royal Golf Dar es Salam in Rabat.
This Saturday he has again shown irregularity from the tee. It has not been a disaster, but he has barely caught just over half of the streets, specifically eight out of fifteen. It is true that some of the ones he missed were by little and he had a shot at green. In any case, the irons have been his best virtue on the moving day. Of the seven streets he missed, on five occasions he managed to get the ball to green, even getting three birdies, on holes 5, 10 and 17. In the latter, a short par 4, the truth is that he managed to get the ball to the surroundings of the green and got a great birdie. He finished with two consecutive birdies that keep him in the fight and with twelve consecutive regulation greens that speak of his consistency.
Be that as it may, it will not be easy to oust this Sunday the most in-form player on the Asian Tour, John Catlin, a golfer who is probably now at the level of the best in the world. Beyond Campbell, Catlin and Chacarra, we must take into account for the last round Travis Smyth (-11), Pat Perez (-10) or Caleb Surratt (-10). The rest seem too far away to be able to trouble the stellar match on a course as demanding as the Moroccan capital.
