You don’t need to know Ángel Ayora very well to know that the only thing on his mind is victory this Sunday at the Challenge de Cádiz. His youthful age (19 years old) is directly proportional to his ambition. He is composed, has a great attitude on the field, matures every minute, but that does not mean that in the back of his head, where he handles himself with ease, and sometimes in a tortuous way, the subconscious, there is no other objective than to win in Sancti Petri.
The task is very difficult. First because he is four strokes behind the leader, Jonathan Goth-Rasmussen, a more than considerable distance, and second because it is the closest he has ever been to victory in his budding career. In addition, the third member of the star match is Wilco Nienaber, a DP World Tour player, even though he has not yet achieved his first victory.
Be that as it may, it is worth remembering that victory is not everything for Ayora this Sunday. A top 3, for example, would be fabulous. His situation on the Challenge Tour is as follows: he has already used six invitations so far this season (the two tournaments in Spain do not count), so officially he would only have one more left. To change this situation and receive unlimited invitations, he would have to exceed the number of points achieved by the golfer who finished in 76th place on the Road to Mallorca last year. That is, he needs to surpass the 255.75 points that Rikaard Karlberg scored. Right now, Ayora has 152 points, so he would need about 104. This means that he would be served by finishing this Sunday tied for fourth with just one player. That would be a great first goal. The seventh and last invitation, as long as he does not reach Karlberg’s figure, would be the Challenge of Ireland in early August.
More small successes that he can achieve this Sunday. If he finishes in the top 10, he would earn a place in the next Challenge Tour tournament in the Czech Republic, next week, without needing an invitation. That wouldn’t be bad.
But there’s more, with a top 3 approximately, Ayora would also get into the Czech Republic by category 3c, which designates the top three in the Race to Costa del Sol who are among the top 45 and do not enter any other category. Right now, Ángel is in 42nd place, so no one doubts that with a top 3 he would also fully enter the Czech Republic. In any case, the minimum is top 10 and thus be able to play next week and have the opportunity to continue growing in opportunities and in the ranking.
