Albert Boneta (-8) will fight for victory this Sunday at the Kolkata Challenge in India, the first stop of the eastern tour of the HotelPlanner Tour. The Barcelona golfer, a regular at El Prat, has created a new opportunity for victory thanks to a fabulous back nine, with a five-under-par score at the Royal Calcutta Golf Club. He is four shots behind the leader, the very young 19-year-old Englishman Joshua Berry (-12). Good shots rewarded the enormous patience he had in the first half of the round when things weren’t quite going his way.
“The first holes weren’t bad, but they weren’t good either. It’s one of those rounds where it seems like nothing happens, nothing very good or very bad,” Boneta told Ten Golf from India. Everything changed from the 11th hole. He had just made a good birdie on the 10th, but it was on the 11th, a 386-metre par 4, where something clicked. Specifically, following a sensational 9-iron that left it practically given. There he went two under for the day and became aware that good things could happen.
He started playing much better, hitting better shots and giving himself opportunities. He remained calm and patient, waiting for his moment. And it came. Oh, it came. And in what a way. He finished his round with three consecutive birdies. “The 16th hole is a par 4 that can be reached in one. Today I preferred to play short. I left myself a 50-metre approach and left it very close. On the 17th, I hit a very good wedge to two and a half metres, and on the 18th, a great seven-iron to about three metres from the hole and in,” Albert recounted to this outlet.
As it stands, Boneta, in his ninth tournament in the second division of the DP World Tour, which he alternates with the top elite when he can play due to his School category, once again has a chance of victory. It’s not easy because there is a four-shot difference, and he has six players ahead of him, but anything like repeating a round like today, the best of the day with 67 shots, will give him some chance.
As we say, the leader is Berry, with a one-shot lead over Lukas Nemecz (-11), two over Maximiliam Steinlechner (-10) and Andreas Halvorsen (-10), and three over George Bloor (-9) and Om Prakash Chouhan (-9), who has relinquished the lead after a bad day (73 shots), one of the worst rounds of the day. It’s curious to see two Austrians like Nemecz and Steinlechner among the top three. It’s not very common.
On the other hand, regarding the Spaniards, beyond Boneta, Adri Arnaus (-4) is the best placed, in the top 25 after delivering a card of 72 shots this Saturday. The rest played over par and left a lot of ground. Santi Tarrio (-2), Quim Vidal (-1), and Lucas Vacarisas (PAR) stumbled with rounds above 73 shots.
