Just over two years ago, very little more, Ángel Ayora played the Open de España as an amateur and missed the cut. Today he fought for victory at the DP World Tour Championship against Rory McIlroy, Matthew Fitzpatrick, and other similar beasts. It is the fabulous and meteoric progression of this 21-year-old player.
In that Open de España, in an interview with Ten Golf before the tournament, this naturally demanding and ambitiously driven Marbella native said without the slightest hesitation in his gaze that his goal was to win the tournament. There was no pretence. It wasn’t a lesson learned by heart from a self-help manual. What he conveyed was pure conviction. When he missed the cut, there was anger, disappointment, but no hint of regret. More work was needed. Full stop. It’s the only recipe he knows.
Today in Jumeirah, there was anger and disappointment again. The same or more than in that Open de España. Ayora wanted the PGA Tour card with all his might. And he wanted it now. He feels ready, and no one in their right mind dares to doubt it. That’s why, after finishing this Sunday at the DP World Tour Championship in eighth position, leading the tournament at times, finishing twentieth in the Race to Dubai and a handful of points away from the American dream, Ángel couldn’t bring himself to smile. He took his time in the locker room, digested everything that happened as best he could, the cursed 18th hole (two bogeys this week that probably cost him the card), and sat at the players lounge bar with a lost look, a touch of sadness and almost melancholy, head down.
At a certain moment, another player approached him. He felt he had to do it to somehow lift his spirits or at least remind him of everything he has done in this 2025. He congratulated him on his year, called it spectacular, and gave him a hug. As equals. This player was Tommy Fleetwood. The World Number 4. The brilliant FedEX Cup champion.
At the same time, according to Ten Golf, Ayora’s performance did not go unnoticed by Luke Donald. The Ryder Cup captain, who has not yet officially announced if he will take on the role for the third time, although all signs increasingly point to it, followed him, took notes, and at times was impressed by that golf that sometimes seems to come from a video game console. 21 years old.
After making bogeys on the 11th and 12th in the final round of the Dubai Finale, it seemed the PGA Tour was slipping away. However, he insisted on believing again, on thrilling, on giving goosebumps even to those who have been in this for a long time. He made three consecutive birdies from the 14th to the 16th and left himself a birdie chance of just over three metres on the 17th. 21 years old. Not even making a birdie on the 17th and getting the eagle on the 18th would have secured the PGA Tour card, but his final surge was magnificent. The kind that stays etched in the memory and is remembered over time.
The big question now is where Ángel Ayora will be in two years. Playing the four Majors? On the PGA Tour? Part of the European Ryder Cup team at Adare Manor? With one or several victories on the DP World Tour or the PGA Tour? In LIV Golf winning the ranking? Anything is possible, and no one would bet against him. The future is his. And then he will remember the hug given to him by Tommy Fleetwood, a player who has worked hard to make a place among the greats of history. And who has achieved it with the same recipe Ángel knows: work, work, then work some more.
