Double chance of Spanish victory this Sunday at the CIRCA Cape Town Golf Open of the HotelPlanner Tour. On one side, Santi Tarrio (-15), who delivered the best round of the day today at the Royal Cape Town Golf Club in South Africa. On the other, Pablo Ereño (-12), with 70 strokes to maintain third place with the doors to victory wide open. The leader, for the second consecutive day, is the South African Trevor Fisher Jr. (-16), with a one-stroke lead over Tarrio and four over Ereño.
The name of the day today in Cape Town has been Santi Tarrio. The Galician signed 65 strokes, the lowest round of the day. He started with a birdie on the 2nd and not even the bogey on the next hole, the only one of the day, caused him any doubt. In fact, from that point on, it was all successes and high-class golf. From the 5th hole onwards, he scored seven birdies. An extraordinary partial that has put him fully into the star match and the battle for everything. We have to go back to July last year to find a lower round from the player from Val de Rois.
Tarrio has two victories on the Challenge Tour, both achieved in 2021, while he has never won on this circuit and his last victory dates back to 2015. However, he won the Africa Open of the DP World Tour, defeating two Spaniards, Eduardo de la Riva and Jorge Campillo, on the final day. Eleven years have passed, but Tarrio will have the opportunity this Sunday to serve the Armada’s revenge on a very cold plate. It will be a duel of veterans, although one much more than the other. Fisher Jr, at 46 years old, is more focused on the senior circuits, while Tarrio is still a young 35-year-old.
Santi has shown a splendid trend this week. Each day he has improved by two strokes over the previous day. He started on Thursday with 69, signed 67 on Friday, and today he has made 65. If all this were as easy as maintaining a periodic sequence, with tomorrow’s 63 he would be the tournament champion without any doubt. But for that, he will still have to play a lot and well within 24 hours. Tarrio has already done very well on this course, he likes it, precisely in 2021 he was sixth, two strokes behind the winner. We’ll see if this Sunday he can improve even more on that position.
The other Spanish victory option is Ereño. The Madrid native delivered a card of 70 strokes today, with an always painful finish due to a bogey on his last hole. In any case, he has created the opportunity. He is four strokes behind, a considerable distance, but by no means insurmountable with 18 holes ahead. However, he must change the week’s dynamic. It is just the opposite of Tarrio’s. He started with 66 strokes, continued with 68, and today he signed 70. To have any chance of winning, logic points to him having to sign something similar to what he did on Thursday. The good thing is that he knows he can do it.
The two Spaniards are the main candidates to prevent another local victory in South Africa, although the Englishman Will Enefer (-11) and the Finn Tapio Pulkkanen (-11) should not be ruled out either. As for the rest of the Spaniards who made the cut, all are at -3: Borja Virto, Lucas Vacarisas, and Víctor Pastor.
