Renato Paratore (-22) reinvents himself on the HotelPlanner Tour and wins the UAE Challenge. The first victory of his career in the second division of the European circuit. He triumphed at Al Zorah Golf & Yacht Club with a thrilling Sunday.
The Italian player started just one shot behind the leader Dan Erickson and delivered the best card of the day to win by two strokes over JC Ritchie (-20). The victory was hardly in doubt at any point. He started like a rocket and then focused on maintaining the lead over the South African. Birdie, PAR, birdie, eagle, birdie. That’s how you start a decisive day, five under in five holes. He opened an unbridgeable gap for the rest of the pack.
The Italian has been searching for his best form for four years and seems to have found a remedy for the troubles that have plagued him since 2021. It should not be forgotten that Paratore is a double champion of the DP World Tour. He made his debut in 2017 at just 24 years old and repeated success in 2020, his best season when he finished 21st in the Race to Dubai. Since then, it’s been a rollercoaster where he hasn’t managed to retain his DP World Tour rights through the Race, although until last year he did through the School. With this victory, Renato is back on the winning path, and the road back to the European Circuit is now less steep.
The positive news of the week for the Armada was provided by Adri Arnaus. The Catalan achieved his best result of the season in the Emirates. Until now, Adri hadn’t finished within the top 20 in any of the six previous events of the HotelPlanner Tour. He finally broke through with a good tournament that allows him to start positioning himself in the Road to Mallorca. His goal is none other than to return to the DP World Tour, and for that, Adri must continue to accumulate good performances in the second continental division. After this result, Arnaus is 18th in the Road to Mallorca, and one of the twenty promotion cards would be all his.
Arnaus needs consistency and seems to be finding the key. It’s true that he had made the cut in five of the six events he had played in the circuit, but the weekends were proving challenging. For the first time all year, Adri played a tournament with four consecutive rounds under par, specifically all of them below 70 strokes. He will seek to continue these good feelings next week in Abu Dhabi.
Among the rest of the Spanish players, the twentieth place of Borja Virto (-10) stands out. A shame because his final round prevented him from fighting for a good haul of points. Of the top 25, he was the only one to play over par this Sunday with a final round of 73 strokes. Victor Pastor (-7), Sebastian García (-5), and Albert Boneta (-5) also couldn’t finish the tournament under par in the final round and lost positions. A shame for the Catalan’s weekend as he arrived with chances for everything. Quim Vidal (-1), on the other hand, was one of the crowd’s favourites, arriving after winning his first victory on the circuit in India. The Spaniard made the cut this Friday, but a final 76 made him finish the event at the back of the pack. Lucas Vacarisas did not participate this weekend after missing the cut on Friday.
Next week, the circuit concludes this mini-tour of two tournaments with the Abu Dhabi Challenge held at Al Ain Equestrian, Shooting & Golf Club.
