A tournament is not won just like that. Not every day do you come close to perfection, and Ángel Ayora (-21) had been shining brightly for two days. This Saturday, the Spaniard knew how to roll up his sleeves and withstand the downpour on a very sunny day where the course allowed for low scores. Despite everything, he will go out this Sunday, in the grand Final of the Challenge Tour, just one stroke behind the leader, Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen (-22).
Truth be told, he started the day where he had left off the previous days. Clean birdies. With two successes to start, everything pointed to the same trend as in the first 36 holes. He could have even reached the 4th tee in an even better position if he had holed the five-metre putt for eagle on the opening hole or if he had made the birdie opportunity on the 3rd hole.
However, from 5 to 9, the Andalusian experienced his first short circuit of the week. He had only had one stumble in two rounds, and in five holes, he fell three times. Bogeys that came from two improvable swings from the tee and an avoidable three-putt, combined with a bit of bad luck, as the ball got embedded in the bunker on the 7th hole. Ángel found himself on the 10th at par for the day and aware that Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen (-22) was overtaking him.
The winner of a Challenge Tour tournament this year acknowledged it: “I went a bit blank. For five holes, I lost concentration and stopped being focused on each shot.” Things of youth, fatigue, or simply things that happen.
Two things stand out. First, the sincerity to acknowledge it without problems and not blame it on bad luck, which he could have easily done. Second, the ability to turn around a situation that was becoming complicated by the moment. He finished four under par on the back nine.
There was a key moment in the reaction. A turning point. The Marbella native walked to the 13th tee one under par for the day. He knew it was insufficient given the display the tournament leader, Neergaard-Petersen, was putting on. At that moment, coming off the 12th green, he met his friend Nacho Gómez Osuna and without him saying anything, Ángel raised his head and commented out loud, so it could be heard: “Let the show begin.”
Perhaps someone else would have been intimidated. Ayora lives for these moments. It was time to rise, bring out the heavy artillery, and counter the attacks. And he did. His best stretch of the day. Birdie on the 13th with a great lob from the back right rough of the green, leaving the putt given, great par on the 14th, and a very good birdie on the 15th that could have easily been an eagle by centimetres. The final trick remained.
Live results of the Challenge Tour Final
On the 17th hole, the Spaniard invented the shot of the day. A five-iron straight to the pin that bounced a metre and a half from the hole and passed twenty centimetres from the flag. Spectacular. He left himself a putt of less than half a metre. Birdie. The show. On the 18th hole, the festival was to make a great recovery from the rough, to the left of the green, and save par.
The Spaniard already knows that Rasmus will not give him anything, and if he wants to triumph in Alcudia, he will have to earn it with great play and without lapses in concentration. If anyone is motivated for what’s to come, it’s Ángel himself. He lives for moments like those of tomorrow.
