Ángel Ayora (-12) will head into Sunday with a chance to win his second Challenge Tour tournament of the season. The golfer from Marbella has created this opportunity with another magnificent round of 68 strokes this Saturday. He made six birdies and three bogeys in the third round of the Hangzhou Open, a tournament held at the Hangzhou West Lake Golf Club course in China. He is in third position, just two strokes off the lead.
Ayora has already achieved the goal he set at the beginning of the season. The DP World Tour card looks beautiful in his pocket no matter what happens in the last two tournaments, but he wants more, he still has things to say. He is heading straight for the Number One of the year and, why not, to add three wins. He would need to win this Sunday in China and the Final in Mallorca. It’s very challenging, but he won’t be the one to shy away from that fight.
The Andalusian golfer has three rounds under 70 strokes and knows that tomorrow he will need to sign something very similar if he wants to compete for the victory. He will need to make up the two-stroke advantage held by Irishman Connor Purcell (-14) and Englishman Ben Schmidt (-14), undoubtedly the player who is gaining the most this week. He started in 50th place and is now fully in the fight for the 20 DP World Tour cards.
The one who has lost ground in this third round is Chinese Wenyi Ding (-11), who is playing his first tournament as a professional with the DP World Tour card secured via the Global Pathway Amateur Ranking. He delivered a par card, with a very cruel final nine holes, closed with a four-over-par score. Even so, no one should rule him out of the final fight for the win.
As for the rest of the Spaniards, Joel Moscatel (-6) had a bad day at the office and has lost his chances of victory. He shot 74 strokes and is now eight off the lead. He can still, however, fight for the top 10. Meanwhile, Borja Virto (-4) shot 73 strokes, heavily hindered by two double bogeys. He will need a perfect day this Sunday to have any chance of making it to the Final in Mallorca. He still has room, but he needs something exceptional.
Finally, Quim Vidal, who missed the cut, is relying on other players to be able to enter the Final in Mallorca. He is currently projected in 51st place, far from those top 45 who will be in that last event in Alcanada.
