The first day of the Porsche Singapore Classic has left us with three effervescent leaders who have signed excellent scorecards of 64 strokes at the Laguna National Golf Resort, eight under for the day. They are Jordan Smith (-8), Kiradech Aphibarnrat (-8) and Gavin Green (-8). Between the three of them, they have also racked up a whopping two bogeys…
Some voices warned in the days leading up to the event that the course was somewhat more complicated this year, not to say substantially more difficult, with the fairways and greens firmer than twelve months ago. When it came down to it, let’s be frank, the start of the tournament has been a stampede, to the point where 85 results below par have been counted, many more than in the 2023 edition after the first round. And that’s even though the wind blew more in the afternoon. These were not fanciful or unrealistic forecasts, even Shane Lowry (-3), one of the most laureate names of the event, was slightly surprised at the end of his round by the excellent results that were being achieved, that had been achieved. The level of all these players is very high, let’s not beat around the bush…
The fact is that in this par 72, the scorecards of 67 strokes, five under for the day, have ended the day just inside the top ten of the leaderboard, clear proof of the birdie festival. And yet, the Spanish Armada was caught off guard by the stampede, probably with the exception of Iván Cantero (-3), although the Asturian’s good play was not enough to even get a glimpse of the hot zone of the classification. It is true that the bulk of the Spaniards played in the afternoon, including Cantero, which was much more complicated: of the twenty players who currently occupy the top ten, fifteen played in the morning. But it could also be argued that one of the co-leaders, Green, played in the afternoon. Adri Arnaus (-1), Adrián Otaegui (-1), Manu Elvira (-1) and Ángel Hidalgo (-1) at least beat the course, but tomorrow, to start with, they will have to secure a cut that could even go to -3. The same can be said of Alejandro del Rey (PAR). Rafa Cabrera Bello (+5) has a much tougher task, who today, among other things, has lost many strokes on the par 5s.
