Santi Tarrio (-13) has naturally taken over from Pablo Ereño (-11) at the Jonsson Workwear Durban Open, the tournament that concludes the four-event swing in South Africa of the HotelPlanner Tour. The Galician delivered a 64-stroke card today in the second round and is tied for the lead with Swedish player Christopher Blomstrand, another veteran, contemporary of Santi and also a winner in the European second division.
Tarrio has signed off on a sensational round with eight birdies and no bogeys. Quite an achievement. It’s true that there are birdies out there, but it’s equally true that it’s a narrow course where you can easily get into trouble. These are courses that fit Tarrio’s eye like a glove.
The golfer from Val de Rois has been in this situation before, leading a HotelPlanner Tour tournament with 36 holes to go. However, this time he intends for the outcome to be different. In the previous two occasions, he didn’t win (Switzerland 2025 and Cape Town 2020), although it wasn’t a disaster either. He secured a second and a fifth place. That’s commendable, although Santi prefers to clinch the victory.
Spain heads into the weekend in Durban with two well-positioned contenders. Tarrio’s position is obvious, and the other is Ereño’s. The Madrid native slowed down this Friday. It often happens. After a very low round, like the ten under par he delivered yesterday, it’s common for golf to become challenging. Today he shot 71, or in other words, he beat the course again. Once more, he produced a good number of birdies. The problem today, unlike yesterday, is that he made many mistakes.
In any case, Pablo is well placed in fourth position, just two strokes off the lead, tied with Oliver Bekker and Keenan Davidse. Third alone is Englishman Alfie Plant (-12), a case similar to Marco Penge. Much has always been expected of him, always believed to have the potential to make his way in the DP World Tour, but he hasn’t quite broken through in the second division.
The Armada also made the cut with Albert Boneta (-7), who is not far from the lead, as well as Joel Moscatel and Víctor Pastor, both at -3 and with plenty of room for improvement in the next two days. On the other hand, Javier Barcos, Asier Aguirre, Lucas Vacarisas, and Borja Virto, who didn’t even play today, have been left out. Of all of them, Barcos’s missed cut was particularly painful, as he missed out by one with a bogey on his last hole.
