The second round of the International Series Qatar, the penultimate tournament of the season on the Asian Tour, has left a bittersweet taste among the Spaniards. Four of the five members of the Armada present this week at the Doha Golf Club have made the cut, with three of them having a chance to fight for victory. But the fifth, perhaps the one who most needed a good result due to his situation on the circuit, has been left out and will have to find new playing opportunities for his future.
David Puig (-8), tied for second after the first 18 holes of the tournament, saw his progress stall this Friday. With a scorecard of 70 strokes, with two birdies and two bogeys, but closing with a great eagle on the 18th, he has lost three positions, falling to a tied fifth place, although he moves into the weekend in contention for the win, four strokes behind the new leader, Peter Uihlein (-12), and two behind Zach Bauchou (-10), who is in second place alone. In the same situation is Luis Masaveu (-8), with 69 strokes today, taking advantage of the opportunity thanks to an invitation.
Eugenio López-Chacarra (-6) has also lost some momentum after signing a round of 71 strokes, although he remains in the top 10 and at a recoverable distance. Meanwhile, Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño (-2), despite his 73 today, has achieved the goal of making the cut with some comfort (two strokes margin) and will try to take advantage of the weekend to climb positions in the standings and secure a good result from this International Series to which he also attends as an invitee.
The downside for the Spaniards was Carlos Pigem (+2), who had started at a good level with a round of 69 strokes yesterday, but today suffered a real debacle with 77, with six bogeys and just one birdie, leaving him out of the weekend and preventing him from fighting until the end for a result that would allow him to retain his card or at least get into the top 40 of the Ranking of the International Series to be able to compete in the LIV Golf school. Now he will have to attend the Asian Tour school at the end of December in Thailand, entering directly into the final stage, to try to regain the lost card.
A hole-out and a dance 🕺🪩@Louis57TM celebrates after holing out for an eagle-two on the 6th! 👏@stingergc_ @intseriesgolf @DohaGolfClub #InternationalSeries #ThisISEverything #TimeToRise pic.twitter.com/2XmH43Rbty
— Asian Tour (@asiantourgolf) November 28, 2024
Ben Campbell (-4) is putting a lot of pressure on John Catlin (-1) to try to take the top spot in the ranking of these international series and earn a place in LIV Golf in 2025. He started the week more than 82 points behind the American, who has struggled to make the cut. Meanwhile, Patrick Reed (-6), who comes from winning in Hong Kong, has signed 67 strokes today to climb the leaderboard and get into a battle for the win where other important names appear, such as Charl Schwartzel (-8), Louis Oosthuizen (-7), or Dean Burmester (-6).
