Quim Vidal (-6) aims to make a decisive move in Portugal to secure his spot on the Road to Mallorca. There are five tournaments ahead, and he can make the leap to earn one of the twenty DP World Tour cards. The Catalan started at Royal Óbidos with a round of 65 strokes, placing him in second on the Open de Portugal leaderboard. The provisional lead is held by Lars Van Meijel (-7), and tied with Quim are Renato Paratore, Gabriel Morgan, Sam Locke, and Matthieu Decottignies-Laffon (-6).
Quim is experiencing what can be described as a strange year. Naturally, the victory he achieved in Delhi brings him closer to excellence and the main goal of the year, which is one of the aforementioned twenty cards. He is currently eleventh on the Road to Mallorca, and the target is getting closer, although it has not yet been secured.
However, it can also be said that consistency is Quim’s pending task. Since India, he has missed the cut in almost 40% of the tournaments he has played, 6 out of 16. He has achieved good results, three top tens, alongside the mentioned missed cuts. The highs are very high, and the lows are very low as well. Another sign of the lack of continuity is that he hasn’t strung together four consecutive rounds under par since his victory in April. In fact, that was the second and last time he achieved it this season.
At ‘home’ of Seve, Quim wants to remove the thorn and string together four good days that would bring him closer to the 800 points that would virtually bring him much closer to the continental first division. With rounds like Thursday’s, there is no doubt he will achieve it. The round was practically flawless. He started the first nine with two birdies without error and took off in the second half with two birdies and an eagle that propelled him to the provisional lead. Another success on the 16th and his only mistake of the day on the last flag of the Portuguese course closed his day at six under par, with the chance to dream big.
Just one stroke behind is Sebas García (-5). The Madrid native needs points to get into the top 45 of the year who play the grand final in Mallorca. He is currently 50th. Last week, he also had an outstanding start but lost momentum day by day, finishing 41st. The momentum needs to change if the goal is to fight for the top spots in the annual ranking. He is showing the level, but he needs to maintain it more consistently.
Rocco Repetto Taylor also delivered a commendable round of two under par, placing him in the top thirty of the event. Within the provisional cut, Borja Virto (-1) has also started. The Navarrese is in 75th place on the Road and needs a sprint this week and next if he wants to break into the top 68 who have the right to play the China tour. Just one stroke behind is Adri Arnaus (PAR)
On the other hand, Luis Masaveu, Lucas Vacarisas, and Álvaro Quirós (+3) will need to fly low in the second round if they want to aspire to make the cut, as will Víctor Pastor, who will need to deliver one of the rounds of the day to play two more days.
