Rocco Repetto (-3) is the best player on the DP World Tour off the tee. The statistics say so. His driver is enormous. He hits it a long way, sixth for distance on the circuit, and very straight. But Rocco is much more than his driver. We move to hole 4. Par 5. He rips a bomb from the tee, but it ends up in the water on the left. It’s not unusual. The fairway is very narrow and many end up wet. In fact, his driver hadn’t been bad. For example, shortly after the same thing happens to Freddy Schott
Rocco takes a drop and his third shot comes up short of the green to the right, with the bunker in front and the pin short. Very delicate. He decides to ignore the pin. It’s not the moment to try to be a hero. He chips it onto the green, it rolls and finishes five metres from the hole. He sinks the par putt. Calmly, he doesn’t pump his fist. It’s the result of a series of good decisions
This par may seem anecdotal, but it isn’t. It shows the evolution, maturity and eagerness to learn of this young man from Málaga with Italian and Irish blood running through his veins in equal parts. Given where he comes from, with the Friday curse on his shoulders, missing the hazard on a par 5 with his length, it wouldn’t have been at all surprising if the ghosts had come calling. He didn’t allow it. It wouldn’t be the only time that day
Now we move to hole 7. Rocco hits another good drive off the tee. The ball just misses the fairway to the left. Yes, it’s a missed fairway, but don’t forget that at the National Golf Club de Belek fairways are no more than 15 metres wide. The ball is perfect, but the pines that bend towards the fairway block his direct shot. He can’t play it high. He’s forced to hit a low shot. The shot is masterful. “It was with the 50-degree, under the branches. We had 115 to the flag and we calculated it would bounce off the green to 95. The truth is it came out perfect,” he explains after signing the card. We can vouch for that. A delight. Much more than the driver
Rocco faced an important test on the second day of the Turkish Airlines Open and he passed it with flying colours. He remains near the top of the leaderboard, four shots behind the lead held by the Italian Gregorio de Leo (-7). Second rounds had been a problem for him this season. We reported that yesterday. Today he couldn’t shoot under par, but at least he held up very well on a difficult day, with wind and pin positions that were more than a little spicy. He’s taken a weight off his shoulders and, above all, he’s banished one or two ghosts that had also appeared
Los dos amuletos de Rocco para tumbar la dichosa maldición de los viernes
It happened at hole 10. After playing a very good first nine holes, Repetto missed the second shot on this par 4. He had a wedge in his hands, he struck it cleanly and the ball flew past. He went over the green and made a double bogey. “It’s OK, we can keep talking about Fridays. Today I even had a mentally weak moment. I still have a lot to learn. After missing the wedge on hole 10 it was difficult. Then I missed the shot on 11, a bad chip and luckily I holed a great putt of about four metres that relaunched the round,” he explains. That’s how he confronts a ghost head-on and ultimately banishes it
Rocco took a step forward this Friday. He started near the top and remains there, even though he didn’t play under par. However, the most important thing is that he keeps learning. Less than a year ago he didn’t even have a HotelPlanner Tour card and today he’s fighting for the top positions in the Turkish Airlines Open. This kid learns and he does it very quickly
