Second consecutive tournament of the Challenge Tour in Abu Dhabi. The UAE Challenge kicks off this Thursday, the second edition of a tournament that takes place at the Saadiyat Beach Golf Club, one of the courses with the best views of the United Arab Emirates and which could well be considered a links.
There we have nine Spaniards: Ángel Ayora, Alejandro Cañizares, Joel Moscatel, Borja Virto, Quim Vidal, Javier Sainz, Lucas Vacarisas, Álvaro Quirós and Víctor Pastor. The vibes are good. You just have to look back to see what happened a year ago and get excited easily. On Sunday two Spaniards came out with serious chances of victory, Manuel Elvira and Iván Cantero and, although they didn’t take the cat to the water, both are on the DP World Tour this year. As a prediction, it’s not bad at all…
Joel Moscatel also finished very high. Specifically, he was eighth, his best result ever in any Challenge Tour tournament. The Catalan is indeed in Abu Dhabi this week, ready to repeat something similar or even, why not, improve it.
Moscatel had a great week, but above all he left an indelible mark on holes 9 and 11, two par 5s. His score on the first was four under par and on the second he accumulated a stratospheric minus six, with two eagles and two birdies in four days. It is not known that they put a plaque there next to the green of the 11, but certainly you can’t accumulate many more merits. It’s worth looking for it…
Joel’s good result on this course, one of the longest of the year on the Challenge Tour and also in the United Arab Emirates, is not strange. In fact, the DP World Tour itself rejected the possibility of using the back tees because it was going to be endless…
To Moscatel’s good week, we must add another good vibe. Álvaro Quirós finished in the top 25, one of his best results of last season, with three rounds under par. The Guadiaro golfer is playing with an invitation, so he needs the support of good performances to help him regain his confidence.
To all this we must add the good moment of play that Ayora, Vidal or Pastor himself are going through.
