Ángel Ayora (-9) will head into another Sunday with a chance to win a Challenge Tour tournament. This time it’s the UAE Challenge. The golfer from Marbella handed in a scorecard of 65 strokes this Saturday in Abu Dhabi, matching his best record of the season, and is just three strokes off the lead. It was the best round of the day at the Saadiyat Beach Golf Club. A high-flying moving day.
Beyond his seven-under round today or his chances of victory, it’s time to take a moment to appreciate what Ayora is doing this season. Remember, he’s only 19 years old. Well, today was his twenty-eighth round of the season between the DP World Tour (two tournaments), PGA Tour (one tournament) and Challenge Tour (five tournaments including this week’s) and his average score is 69.67. He’s only played over par on five occasions and his worst round was a 75 at the Puerto Rico Open. If we only count DP World Tour and Challenge Tour tournaments, his average score is 68.95. Watch out. Serious stuff.
Today in Abu Dhabi, Ayora put on a golf clinic. He did a sensational job from a strategic point of view alongside Juan Ochoa, his coach and caddie. They’ve learned the best way to avoid trouble and always stay in play, and the plan worked perfectly. They played a game of chess and have put the leaders in check… We’ll see if the checkmate can come tomorrow. He’s within reach.
From the tee, he hit everything. A display of resources. From the driver to the 4-iron, including several 3-woods and 5-woods. The course is hard and the ball rolls a lot on the fairway, so you have to play with a lot of control, calculating well the roll the ball can make. Today he hit 17 greens in regulation and on seven of them he left it within three meters. He made two eagle putts and got two easy birdies from there. There were eight birdies and a lone bogey to move up to fifth place. Candidacy submitted.
The leader is Wilco Nienaber (-12). The South African is playing great golf. He was in the star group last week and it won’t be easy to knock him down. Today he finished with a bogey on the 18th hole. He’s already won in his career, but if there’s one thing he’s shown, it’s that he struggles to close out tournaments on Sundays. We’ll see what happens tomorrow. He certainly has potential.
Two strokes behind Nienaber are Englishman David Horsey (-10), a veteran hardened in many battles and multiple winner on the DP World Tour, Swiss Benjamin Rusch (-10) and also English Pavan Sagoo (-10). Tied with Ayora, among others, stand out Gary Stal, Tapio Pulkkanen and Danish Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen, probably the most in-form player on the Challenge Tour, the most consistent.
As for the rest of the Spaniards who made the cut, it’s been a great moving day. Javier Sainz (-7) will also have his chance to win this Sunday, five strokes off the lead, while Joel Moscatel (-6) and Borja Virto (-6) have made up a lot of ground and have also set their sights on the possibility of finishing with a great result. Victory seems a bit far off, but a top 5 or better is not.
