“Slowly and with good handwriting, doing things well matters more than doing them”. That must have been what Javier Sainz (-3) has been thinking in recent weeks. The Spaniard has made a good start at the Kalkota Challenge which places him among the top fourteen in the tournament. With a round of 69 strokes in which he only made one bogey throughout the round, the Spaniard links his fifth consecutive round under par. In the previous seven he had only achieved it in two. Let’s go back a little earlier in the year.
The Basque started the season with good playing sensations, but without getting the expected results. There was no rush. “The low numbers will come, even if I don’t see it now” Javi must have thought. On the South African tour he played three tournaments and didn’t make the cut in any of them. In the last tournament of the aforementioned tour he made a great start with his lowest result of the year (66), but the next day in a tough day of golf (78) he ended up saying goodbye to the tournament early. “In South Africa there were bad results but I had very good sensations with my game, I lacked patience and knowing how to wait for the right moment and that a couple of things that sometimes don’t happen fit”, Javi calmly tells.
The Basque had no doubts, it was a matter of waiting and it’s not that he has made himself much more desired. As soon as Sainz landed in India, the pieces started to fit together. “In the break before India I didn’t focus on anything specific, the putt is true that in the last tournaments it hasn’t worked very well for me”, but he insists, “I didn’t want to focus on anything specific, it was a matter of being more patient and knowing how to wait for the moment, also with the swing I see myself well from the start of the season”. He was right. In the first tournament in India he linked consecutive rounds under par for the first time in the year. Specifically, the four of the tournament. In fact, he was the only Spaniard to achieve it.
Today at Royal Calcutta Golf Club he has done it again. The streak continues. It has been a very solid round that puts him two strokes from the lead: “I played quite orderly and almost always in the street well placed something fundamental in this field. When I missed green I recovered almost all and I am satisfied with the putt, although it is the facet that I need to reinforce the most. Today he even had time to sign a spectacular eagle after playing a great iron 5 of second shot that has left a meter and a half from the hole. Continuity gives confidence: “Now I am getting more rhythm of good game during several rounds in a row so I am happy that things come out”.
The other Spaniard who would currently make the cut in Calcutta is Alejandro Cañizares (PAR) who has made his best start of the season in a round that has been a real roller coaster. Only six pars in the round. No one has signed more birdies than the Spaniard (7) today. In fact, everything started on wheels with four birdies in the first five flags and, although it was still very early, the reality is that he was touching the leadership. However, two fateful double bogeys and two more mistakes along the way have prevented him from finishing in a better position. Tomorrow he will seek to minimize mistakes and overcome his second cut of the season.
More than half of the field has played the course over par today and, among them, the other five Spaniards in contention this week: Quim Vidal (+1), Joel Moscatel (+2), Lucas Vacarisas (+3), Víctor Pastor (+4) and Borja Virto (+5). All will need a round under par tomorrow to make the cut in this last tournament in India. It is true that the Cordovan and the Navarrese have it more complicated, but by no means impossible.
In the lead are two locals like the Indians Udayan Mane and Veer Ahlawat (-5) who have handed in cards of 68 strokes each. Behind them by one stroke is a battalion of twelve players among whom is Brandon Robinson-Thopmson (-4) who already knows what it is like to win on the circuit. The English player literally missed out on the DP World Tour last season, being the first on the list to miss out (22nd in the ranking). A five-meter putt separated him from glory at the 18th hole in Alcanada a few months ago and he is working on the option to achieve it this year. Alongside Brandon is last week’s winner, John Parry (-4), who maintains his great form and is also one stroke from the lead.
