Jesper Svensson (-16) has 54 holes in the D+D Real Czech Masters and has only made one bogey. He did it yesterday on the 17th, a gentleman’s par 3 of over 210 meters. To score it, the 28-year-old Swede had to miss a par putt of just over 33 centimeters. A gift. An accident. A distraction. Only in this way does this man give the rest a breather and a good proof of this is what happened this Saturday on hole 16, in the final stretch of the third round…
Svensson hit the worst drive of the day. Lock to the left. Horrible. To the worst place where you can fail on this hole. The ball went into a kind of jungle, after saving a small stream one meter wide. He had to hit provisional, although they managed to find the first one not without strenuous efforts on his part, his caddie and his playing partners. However, the ball was horrible. It was not visible. Sunk in the grass, covered with leaves, small branches and with barely a window to take it out laterally to the street on the right.
The Nordic golfer took almost ten minutes to hit the shot. He was not sure how to solve it. He consulted several times with his caddie, had different conversations with the European Tour referee, even considered hitting backwards, but finally took a risk. That is certainly what it seemed. He was not convinced at all, but he looked for an aggressive line, went to the street and even gained some meters towards the green.
That second shot was almost heroic, but the best was yet to come. He was about 310 yards from the flag and hit the 3-wood. Sublime. Spectacular. It was almost 270 meters of 3-wood flight to land at the beginning of the green and roll to almost the height of the flag. From a bogey, or something much worse, almost assured, he left a birdie putt.
🚀 311-yards
🏌️♂️ 3-wood
💦 Wet groundTake a bow, Jesper Svensson 👏#CzechMasters pic.twitter.com/HGNRyty6hh
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) August 17, 2024
That 3-wood, which served him to save a comfortable par, could well be the winning shot of the tournament. It has allowed him to finish the day as the sole leader with a one-shot lead over the Frenchman David Ravetto (-15) and two over Adrien Saddier (-14), Ross Fisher (-14), Brandon Robinson Thompson (-14) and Andrew Johnston (-14). It could be the winning shot because at the time of writing this chronicle practically no one can 100% assure that the tournament can be completed in four rounds.
The weather forecast for Sunday at the PGA National OAKS in Prague is very bad. Again, as happened today Saturday, with an interruption of almost three hours, there is a strong and constant threat of storm throughout the day. Between nine and twelve noon it gives a lot of water. Being Sunday and under these conditions, it should not be ruled out that it cannot be played and therefore the tournament is reduced to 54 holes, as it ended today. In that case, Svensson would be the champion. He would achieve the second title of the year and would set foot and a half in the PGA Tour, through the ten cards that are distributed at the end of the year by the Race to Dubai.
One of those who would prefer one more round is Ángel Hidalgo (-10), the best-ranked Spaniard after his great round of 67 strokes delivered today. He has entered the top 25 and has the top 10 three strokes away. He comes from less to more and today he will surely light a couple of candles because there is golf on Sunday. The Malaga player is an example for everyone. Add, add and add. No round to waste. No shot is less important than the previous one. Everything counts. And so he goes making his way as he goes.
Also asking for one more round in the Czech Republic are the other three Spaniards who made the cut: Nacho Elvira (-9), Santi Tarrio (-7) and Adri Arnaus (-6).
The plan tomorrow is to go out very early, with departures between seven and nine in the morning, by two tees and three by three. The goal is to save the fourth round. The answer is in the sky.
