You never know in this blessed sport, but everything points to it not being the week for the third Spanish victory of the season in the HotelPlanner Tour, although never say never, especially at Golf Bluegreen de Pléneuf Val André
Lucas Vacarisas and Rocco Repetto Taylor (+2) will start this Sunday eight shots off the lead at the BlotPay 9. They will need a display if they want to dethrone the Kennedy (+6), Morrison (+6) and company.
It was a shame because Borja Virto (+4) was building a winning chance. He faltered on the 17th tee with a score of level par for the course and a total of one under. Five shots off the lead. However, the golf gods punished him mercilessly. Borja derailed with a painful quintuple bogey that sent him to a total of +4. He lost another five shots in one fell swoop, sending any victory aspirations into limbo. A tough blow after 52 holes that were more than interesting.
That said, the top ten is within a distance that can be overcome. Four shots are not much on a course that will continue to wreak havoc on Sunday, and Borja needs to keep adding to climb positions in the Road to Mallorca. He is currently 67th and at least needs to try to get closer to the 45th position that marks the cut for the Final in Alcudia.
Those closer to that top ten are the aforementioned Lucas Vacarisas and Rocco Repetto Taylor. They have replicated rounds of 68 shots and have taken advantage of moving day to get within one shot of the top ten. Nothing is impossible, and if they can emulate the 60 shots Kennedy made on the first day, they can fight for victory. Only Oliver Bekker, with a card of 65 shots, delivered a better score this Saturday than the two Spaniards.
The lead on Thursday was at -10. Two days later and 36 holes after, it has dropped to -6. No player has been able to play all three days under par. The Breton course is proving to be a real challenge, and each passing day it gets more difficult. On the first day, 25 players managed to play under par, on Friday barely 16 could beat the course, and this Saturday the number dropped to 12. We’ll see what happens this Sunday, but a round at par could be a great final result.
The leaders are Max Kennedy and James Morrison (-6). Precisely the two who have ended up leading the first and second rounds respectively. Robin Sciot-Greist (-5) is just one shot behind, and the young Oihan Guillamoundeguy (-4) is two shots back. None of those among the top seven have the experience of winning on the tour before, and that, combined with the conditions in San Andrè, could create a great cocktail this Sunday.
The other four Spaniards have not been able to score below 74 shots. Santi Tarrío (+5), Luis Masaveu (+8), Javier Calles (+9), and David Borda (+11) will look to fly low on the decisive day and scrape as many points as possible for the Road to Mallorca.
