Víctor Pastor unleashes in Cape Town. The player born in Córdoba signs the best card of the day in the second round of the Bain’s Whisky Cape Town Open with 65 strokes, he is positioned as the best Spaniard and within the top 25 of the tournament. Right now, the Andalusian is just four strokes from the lead and with 36 holes ahead. With rounds like today’s, the Spaniard should not be ruled out in any calculation.
Right now at the head of the tournament there is a major jam with up to ten players tied at the top with nine strokes under par and among which stand out Tapio Pulkkanen, who remains at the top, the South African Deon Germishuys who flirted with victory last week and the English Alfie Plant who already knows what it is to win twice in the Challenge. The exotic touch is provided by Haraldur Magnus, an Icelander co-leading in South Africa. The players who are one stroke from the lead do not enter the top 10 of the tournament. Crazy.
Let’s go back to Victor. The Spaniard started the second round with the need to gain a lot of ground on the field after a difficult start of two over par on the first day: “I needed to start well because today’s big goal was to make the cut, I started very well and that has relieved me of a lot of pressure. I played more calmly”. The calculation was that the cut would go to two or three under par and from the first minute he got to work… and boy did he do it: Five under par after having played six flags, with three birdies and a stratospheric eagle that has its story.
Hole five at Royal Cape, 480 meters, Pastor speaking: “I hit a great tee shot, in fact it was the only hole today where I ‘stepped on’ Gerhard Peppler (also leader)”, Victor tells us amused. “The truth is I have never seen anyone hit as hard as him in my life, it’s impressive, the thing is that I surpassed him and I was left in the rough 180 meters from the flag and with a six iron I left it about thirteen meters with a downhill putt, I threw it very well and it went in perfect”. Eagle in the bag. He tells it with a simplicity that is astonishing. After that eagle and the birdie on the next flag, the job was to maintain the acquired lead and he did so for the remaining twelve holes with a bogey on the very difficult hole 14 and a birdie that returned him to minus five on hole 17.
The reality that Victor himself acknowledges is that he arrived in South Africa after a complicated 2023. He tells us that he suffered certain ups and downs that made him irregular, with a great start to the year, but with a lot of ups and downs that did not prevent him from finishing the year winning the Spanish Professionals Championship.
The recipe to be more regular? Pastor had it clear, hours hours and more hours on the practice range. “I know that when I work a lot things end up coming out, so I have worked hard in the preseason”, the Andalusian concluded. “I have worked a lot on the swing, and in the four rounds I have played this year I am playing very well from the tee. I want to put myself in a position to make rounds like today’s without depending too much on the short game or the putt. Then they will come out or not, but I work to give myself the opportunity to be regular from the tee and I know I will have my chances”. The recipe is starting to bear fruit. Why not dream at Royal Cape of his first victory in the Challenge.
Good news also for Alejandro Cañizares (-3) who has also managed to turn the first day around and with a spectacular minus four today he makes the cut at the limit. Along with him, Joel Moscatel (-3) will also have the weekend to claw positions in a very tight table as only six strokes separate the leading group from those who have made the cut.
Borja Virto (-2), Ángel Ayora (+1), Quim Vidal (+1) and Lucas Vacarisas (+2) have not managed to make the cut in this second test of the year on the circuit. New challenges around the corner.
