An exciting third day of the Omega European Masters at the Crans Sur Sierre Golf Club. High-level golf needs from time to time these survival and high tension days, of tragedy and epic, which is exactly what we have had today in Swiss lands. The wind, present throughout the day with gusts that easily exceeded fifty kilometers per hour, has pushed everyone to the limit, to the point that only three players have been able to deliver cards below par, with the 68 of Jonas Blixt (-4), two less on the day, being the best record. The Swede, by the way, climbed nearly forty places and ended the day in the top ten…
The standout leader at the start of the day, Matt Wallace (-11), also succumbed to the onslaught of the wind, with a final card of 73 strokes (remember it is a par 70), but in reality it can be said that he has gallantly saved the day, aJonas Blixts he maintains his privileged position on the leaderboard and will also go out to play the final round tomorrow with the same four-stroke advantage he started with today. The Englishman, who had to solve several very delicate situations, ended up raising his fist after finishing the round with an excellent birdie on the 18th. In fact, all things considered, Wallace has played today ‘below par’, if we take into account that the average number of strokes has gone above 74…
From this same point of view, then, and almost from any, Alfredo García Heredia (-7) has been one of the best on this day of pure survival, with a card of 71 strokes, only surpassed by those three players who have gone below par (Jonas Blixt, Edoardo Molinari and Sebastian Soderberg) and by another who has signed the tables (the Dane Sebastian Friedrichsen). The Spaniard has reached the second position on the leaderboard and has entered the stellar match on Sunday, although his end of the round probably deserved a bigger prize. On hole 16, par 3, he left a great option from three meters; on the 17th another one from slightly less than three meters; and on the 18th, hitting a great second shot from the rough, another from a meter and a half.
His start, under such conditions, had already been formidable, with a partial of two less in the first six holes of the Swiss course, a stretch where several of the most complicated holes are located. In fact, no one today in Crans has signed a partial like this in that part of the field. No one. But today, sooner or later, everyone was going to have to suffer their particular anguish. The Asturian’s came on holes 7 and 8, where he chained double bogey and bogey. However, from that crossroads onwards, Alfredo was going to bring the ship to a good port, brilliantly saving some very delicate situations (on hole 11 he plugged a par putt from more than six meters, for example) and even wasting excellent chances to get closer to Wallace, as has already been explained.
There is no need to remember the urgent need for the Asturian to score points, many points, to turn around a season in which he has not been able to do so yet. As it stands now, second alone on the leaderboard, he would gain 128 positions in the Race to Dubai and would be placed in 57th place, within the Abu Dhabi play off and with serious options to even get into the Dubai Final. The way he is playing this week, it is not to be ruled out, even, that he could aspire to something more if the leader does not have a good day.
Nacho Elvira (-4) has also come out unscathed, and even triumphant, from the great challenge. The cocktail of high-altitude play (over two thousand meters) and strong wind can be devastating, as too many elements are put into the equation when judging distances and the type of shot you want to make. The matter gets even more complicated with some flag positions that with such wind were planted right on the edge of the abyss… But Nacho’s final card of 71 strokes is good proof of how lucid he has also been. In fact, that result of one more on the day has put him inside the top ten and, although tomorrow he goes out seven strokes from the lead, he still has a lot to do and say.
The Sunday round, by the way, is not going to be played on a bed of roses, precisely. It is possible that the intensity of the wind will not reach as high as today, but it will certainly blow strongly and, in addition, there is also a forecast of a storm at around two in the afternoon. Given how things have gone for García Heredia and Elvira, it doesn’t seem like a bad option to have to keep pulling on the epic.
