The Challenge Tour lands this week in French Brittany as the season’s midpoint approaches. The Blot Open de Bretagne is the 13th event of the year out of a total of 29.
So far, Nordic dominance is more than notable. Four victories from Danish players, two Swedes, and one Norwegian. Seven out of twelve. The rest of the circuit’s players wonder what they have for breakfast in the north. At this same stage, the Armada has one victory and three players within the Mallorca final: Joel Moscatel fourth and therefore with one of the twenty cards in his possession, Ángel Ayora 31st and Víctor Pastor 40th. Our ambitions are maximum and there are many players knocking on the door of a great result.
The circuit makes a stop at one of the venues with the most tradition and history within the circuit. It is the 15th edition held at Golf Bluegreen in Pléneuf Val André, a beautiful village in the spectacular French region.
Golf Bluegreen is a modern course that opened its doors in 1992 and is located by the sea on the Emerald Coast of Brittany. A wonderful par 70 course of 5,855 meters, nestled at the top of the Breton cliffs. Spectacular views like those offered by the par 3 of hole 11. A postcard course without a doubt.
Beautiful on the outside, tough on the inside. The course is no piece of cake. A demanding course that poses a good challenge to the circuit’s players. The tournament winner has been between 9 and 13 under par in the last three years. You can fly low, but not that much.
Despite this, this regular circuit test of the Challenge Tour has historically been good for the Armada. Álvaro Velasco won in 2016 with a great final round of 62 strokes. To this victory, we must add that since 2012 in only two editions we have missed the appointment with the top 10. Not going too far, in the last three years at least two of the Armada have sneaked into the top ten.
Last year, Manu Elvira was on the verge of victory. Only a sextuple bogey in the opening round prevented him from lifting the final trophy. Two years ago it was Borja Virto, who is playing here again this week, who dreamed of victory until the last holes. For his part, Adri Arnaus also came close to victory in 2018. Among others, Santi Tarrio’s two fourth places also stand out.
Victory has eluded us in Brittany for nine years, but the Spanish imprint is deep. This week ten of ours will seek to emulate Álvaro Velasco or at least to continue the good streak in the top 10 and continue adding points towards the Road to Mallorca: the aforementioned Borja Virto, Víctor Pastor, Alejandro Aguilera, Jorge Maicas, Quim Vidal, Joel Moscatel, Lucas Vacarisas, Javi Sainz, Alejandro Cañizares and Emilio Cuartero Blanco are the chosen ones.
By the way, this week Ronald Rugumayo will play the tournament, the Ugandan who amazed the world and became the first player from his country to make the cut in the DP World Tour. The African will be part of the game in France this week in what will be his debut on the circuit.
For the interests of the Armada in this circuit, we will have to keep a close eye on what happens in the KLM Open. If Ángel Ayora achieves a top 20 in the Dutch tournament, he would reach 256 points in the Challenge ranking and would no longer depend on tournament invitations. He only has the right to one more invitation this season on the Challenge Tour, so it is important that the Andalusian adds, as soon as possible, the necessary points to reach that first great goal and play the rest of the season. In the Road to Mallorca he is currently 31st and would be classified for the grand final in Alcudia.
