Emilio Cuartero Blanco (-5) has signed a great round of six under par on the second day of the Plot Open de Bretagne to get into the top positions of the tournament. Yesterday, the man from Lleida handed in a card of 71 strokes (+1) that forced him to scratch some strokes from the field if he wanted to pass his first cut of the season in what is his fourth tournament of the year.
Today, he has gone much further. His round of 64 strokes puts him just one stroke from the top ten. It’s his lowest score in 24 months. It’s exactly two years since the last time he handed in a card with the same figures. And yes, it was precisely in this same tournament. There is something about Bluegreen Golf de Pléneuf Val André that suits the Catalan perfectly.
“It’s been an incredible round, it’s come out round. It’s been very nice. This is what we work for,” Emilio acknowledged to Ten Golf just a few hours after handing in the card. Words full of hope and emotion because the reality is that the last year and a half have been difficult for the Catalan on a sporting level.
The last 18 months have not been easy for an Emilio who has not made the cut in the three tournaments he has played this season and last season, for example, he only made the cut in 9 of the 32 tests in which he participated between the Challenge and the DP World Tour. A single top ten in almost twenty months. His victory in Sweden in August 2022 seems very far away and although there he signed four great days to take the victory this round in Brittany is his lowest round in 360 days.
What happened this Friday is pure oxygen for any golfer, but much more when you have suffered a lot for so many months: “More than today’s round, which also, I am very happy to be playing the Challenge tournaments again, I need time to get into rhythm, but little by little more rounds like today’s will come. A great joy”.
There have been 64 strokes, but the round could have been even lower. The Spaniard flirted with getting close to 60 strokes. Eight birdies without a mistake with three holes to go made him dream big, but a distraction almost at the end made him make a double bogey on hole 16 leaving his round at a more than notable six under par. Until that moment Emilio had been close to perfection: “It was a shame the start of hole 16, I hit it a bit crooked and with the wind it fell into a bush that literally ate it. I didn’t find it and I had to hit again from the tee and I didn’t manage to save the bogey. It doesn’t matter, today I nailed it except for that mistake. The round has come out very well and I am very happy”. The man from Lleida is not satisfied: “I am hungry”, he concluded. Two days ahead to continue gaining rhythm and, who knows, a good handful of points.
The round of six under par allows him to give himself two more days of golf on the verge of the top ten and aspiring to great things in the remaining 36 holes.
Along with the Spaniard is another of our own, Lucas Vacarisas (-5). The also Catalan has handed in his second card below par. “I’m playing very fine from the tee and with very solid second shots. but I can’t stop everything I’m losing from the putt. Numerous opportunities I’ve left under four meters that I’ve barely converted. If I’m fine on the green I’m going to have options to fight for something more”.
At the top of the table is, one more week a Nordic. This week in particular it’s the turn of the Swede Bjorn Akesson who already knows what it’s like to win this year on the circuit after winning in xx the tournament that was reduced to three days. The Swede is nailing golf and will go out tomorrow with a three-stroke lead over his closest pursuers. The also Nordics Jeppe Kristian Andersen, Danish and Akesson’s compatriot, Per Langfors (-10).
One of the great stories of the tournament has been caused by another Nordic, the Norwegian Mats Egge. He left Bluegreen yesterday with a more than painful +9 that put his aspirations to play in France this weekend in Filipino. Two double bogeys, 6 bogeys and a single birdie consummated a real nightmare for the Norwegian. Well, for anyone who says that golf is not spectacular. Today, Egge has handed in a card of 60 strokes, ten under par and without any mistakes along the way. He gets in with both feet for the weekend. What a roller coaster of emotions this sport can be. 19 strokes difference between Thursday and Friday.
Of the rest of the members of the Armada also stands out the good performance of Javi Sainz (-4) who is just one stroke behind Cuartero and Vacarisas. Five birdies and two bogeys put him inside the top 20 in Brittany. The man from Biscay is currently in 72nd place on the Road to Mallorca and needs to add good booty to get closer to a place in the grand final that is held in Alcudia with the 45 best of the year. Only 20 will have full rights on the DP World Tour next season and Javi wants to get in a position to fight for it. Just one stroke behind is Alejandro Aguilera with a great -3
Borja Virto (-2), Víctor Pastor (-1) and Joel Moscatel (-1) also make the cut in the Open de Bretagne and will want to climb positions to score as many points as possible in France. Matts Ege and Emilio Cuartero have shown them the way.
Less lucky this week have been Jorge Maicas (+2), Quim Vidal (+4) and Alejandro Cañizares (+7) who will not be part of the game tomorrow in France.
