Ángel Ayora (-15) is the only chance left for Spanish golf to try to end a 35-year curse. The 19-year-old golfer from Malaga is the Armada’s chance of victory at the SDC Open in South Africa with 18 holes left. Or in other words, he is the man who could make a Spaniard win the first tournament of the season of the Challenge Tour for the first time in history.
Ayora has created the opportunity with a great third round. He has made 67 strokes, with seven birdies and only two bogeys. He will start four behind the leaders, the South Africans Louis Albertse (-19) and Wilco Nienaber (-19). (How strange that two South Africans are leading in South Africa…). In third place is the Welsh Rhys Enoch (-18) and then there is a three-stroke step to the fourth position where Ayora is located along with Alex Levy, Jbe Kruger or Chris Paisley, among others.
Ángel will need a very good round this Sunday to be able to win the tournament. The calculations say that he should be around nine under par to reach -24. That’s where it will be. This is the bad news. The good news is that he is fully capable of doing it. Today he has been close. He was shooting seven under par after 15 holes, until a bad finish with a bogey on the 16th and another on the 18th slowed him down.
The reality is that he has been very unlucky on the 16th. He hit a spectacular drive. It was going straight to the green entrance, but it hit an advertising sign and bounced straight into the rough. To make matters worse, it ended up in a very bad position and he could barely get it to the green bunker. Meanwhile, on the 18th everything came together. He hit another great drive, but second, with the 8 iron, he went into the water and ended up with three putts. For the same price, both holes could have ended with two birdies and he would now be tied for the lead. It would have been the most logical thing.
In any case, the golfer from Marbella has reasons to be satisfied. He has been aggressive and has followed the plan from start to finish. He has kept the pace of birdies without flinching and has left himself a chance of victory for tomorrow. Not bad for the first date of the year.
In addition to Ayora, Joel Moscatel (-9) has signed a good round of 69 strokes, to place himself in 35th place, and Quim Vidal (-6) has had a more complicated day (74 strokes), with two double bogeys, and has lost many positions in the table. Moreover, Moscatel, despite his three under par, has dropped five places. It’s the law of the birdie in South Africa.
