– Haotong Li (-13) is the leader of the Qatar Masters after the third round, having signed a card of 67 strokes, the best score of the day at the Doha Golf Club. The Chinese player, seeking his fourth victory on the DP World Tour, starts tomorrow as the main favourite for several reasons. The first is obvious, as he currently leads by two strokes over his closest pursuer, the Englishman Brandon Robinson Thompson (-11), and by four over the next in the standings, young South African Jayden Schaper (-9) and Englishman Matthew Jordan (-9). Another reason in favour of Li is how well he has been seen on the course today, with the determination he usually plays with, whether it’s a Sunday round or a Wednesday Pro-Am. It seems like every shot is a matter of life and death for him.
Moreover, the Chinese player is not a newcomer. He is only 29 years old and seems to have been on the circuit for a lifetime, as he was already travelling the world as a teenager, but in any case, he is the most experienced of all the contenders. However…
– When Haotong Li is involved in the fight, there is always a ‘but’ on the horizon. He is the king of determination, but he can also be the king of frustration, so much so that his career draws a line of marked peaks and troughs. He can be playing very well one month and then miss five consecutive cuts without flinching. He can play very well on a Thursday and be very erratic over the weekend. He can even string together 33 consecutive holes without making a bogey, which is exactly his current situation in the Qatar Masters, and then fill his card with errors the next day. It should also be honestly clarified that he has been seen to be somewhat more consistent lately, although we still find some recent lapses: in the past Dubai Desert Classic, after completing three more than decent first rounds that kept him close to the top ten, he closed the week with a 77.
– One of his trademarks has always been being a player capable of producing truly crazy shots, because no one beats him in bravery. And he also has the talent and the hands. But to date, his pure frustration-induced disconnections have also been memorable. In any case, he is a genuine guy with a character much more Latin than Oriental. As mentioned: tomorrow he seeks his fourth victory on the DP World Tour, the only top-level circuit where he has claimed victory.
– Ángel Ayora (-5) delivered a 68 today, the second-best score of the day. The wind changed direction almost radically today, and although it actually blew with less intensity than on other days, it caught many off guard. That, and the greens are getting firmer. The young Andalusian, however, was one of the scarce four players who signed a bogey-free card, although his surgical comeback was not significant enough to include him among the contenders for victory. Ayora was somewhat irritated in previous rounds because he couldn’t quite hit the irons to his liking, but an efficient practice session on Friday afternoon with his coach (and caddie), Juan Ochoa, put him back on the right track. It goes without saying that, especially in the case of a twenty-year-old player, tomorrow there is much more at stake than remote chances of victory. Every point is worth gold. And confidence. And peace of mind.
– Nacho Elvira (-4) will have to wait until tomorrow to make amends. Today almost nothing went his way (round of 73 and only one birdie). It wasn’t easy to leave the ball close to the hole in the mentioned playing conditions, but out of the five occasions where he had good opportunities, he only converted one. Tomorrow he goes out to play ten minutes before his brother, Manu Elvira (-4), who signed another 70 today, just like on Friday, and can still look at the top ten of the tournament with all the intention in the world, just like Ayora and his brother Nacho.
– Iván Cantero (-3) goes out to play this Sunday alongside Wilco Nienaber (-3), a true duel of bombers, although it is expected and desirable that the Asturian will be able to focus on his own game, very involved and aware that every shot matters, exactly as he did today after stringing together three bogeys in the first third of his round, to produce an excellent reaction on a course where things cannot be forced and thus sign a card under par (70).
– Ahead of the Elvira brothers, Ayora, and Cantero, Álvaro Quirós (-2, today round of 73), Jorge Campillo (-1, today round of 73), Ángel Hidalgo (-1, today round of 74), and Alfredo García Heredia (PAR, today round of 74) will go out to play tomorrow, who on this Saturday of changing winds have lost the battle with the course.
