Víctor Pastor (-4) has started the grand final of the HotelPlanner Tour on the right foot. A round of 68 strokes at Club de Golf Alcanada, four under par, and a clear feeling: there’s a match. He needs a great result to have promotion options and has taken the first step in that direction. He is tied for sixth and climbs twelve positions to 33rd place. He is not within the twenty cards that give access to the DP World Tour, but the opportunity to fight for it arises. Even if it’s symbolic, he is the player who gains the most positions in the projection.
The most positive thing is that it hasn’t been, by any means, his best day. And that, paradoxically, is great news. Pastor acknowledged after the round that he had started nervously: “I don’t really know why, but it was tough for me”, he admitted. However, he went out on the course to sign a more than remarkable result.
Víctor’s round had two sides. The first nine holes were a continuous battle, especially from the tee. He clearly missed at least four fairways and a couple more by a little, despite good swings. The mini driver, his ally in practice rounds, became capricious on the six occasions it came out of the bag. Especially the tee shot on the 9th —far to the left— which cost him the first bogey of the day. “It annoys me because these days I was hitting very well and today nothing came out,” he commented at the end.
From the 10th hole, the script changed completely in terms of result and from the 13th in terms of sensations. Pastor found rhythm, loosened his hands, and in the last six holes, he wouldn’t have any painful misses from the tee. Birdies on the 10th, 11th, 13th, 15th, and 18th —the latter with a good mid-range putt— painted a great second half of the day. In total, five birdies in nine holes and an almost immaculate card in the second half of the round.
If his long game wasn’t up to expectations, his putter was. That’s where he made the difference. Putts with determination, without any three-putts, on greens that, despite the rain, remained firm and fast. On the fifth, he holed from seven metres, and on the back nine, he was a birdie-producing machine.
As mentioned, in the projection, the Cordoban still wouldn’t be among the twenty who move up to the DP World Tour, but he has placed himself in a magnificent position to make a statement. There are 54 holes ahead, a whole ocean, but the last to arrive at the Final has laid the first stone. We’ll see if Víctor Pastor, number 45 of the Road to Mallorca, turns this week into the big hit no one expected.
The bitterest side in this regard was left by Adri Arnaus (+1). The player from Moià hasn’t been able to conquer the Mallorcan course and with an initial round of 73 strokes, he moves far from the card objective and falls to 42nd place in the projection. The reality is that there is still a lot of tournament ahead and he has more than enough time, the fourth place is six strokes away and there are 54 holes left. He is left with no margin for error, but with room for a comeback.
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