– Chaotic first day at the Omega European Masters with endless suspensions due to fog. Some inconveniences can also be found in this wonderful place that is the Crans Sur Sierre Golf Club, located at 1,500 metres altitude, where the clouds, when they feel like it, graze at will among peaks, glaciers, and valleys, and there’s no way to chase them away. So the day has been broken and incomplete after more than five hours of suspension in successive phases, and none of the players in the afternoon shift have even managed to get out on the course. Meanwhile, only 24 golfers from the morning shift have been able to complete the first round.
– One of these 24 was Iván Cantero (-5), co-leader of the tournament, whose group had already teed off from the 18th before play was definitively suspended due to lack of light and was able to finish the round. Or to be more precise: Englishman Todd Clements (-2), his playing partner, was almost running off the 17th green to be able to tee off from the 18th and thus finish the hole before the horn sounded, while Cantero was still finishing playing the 17th.
– We will see when the Asturian returns to tread the green of the Swiss course, as tomorrow’s weather forecasts are not too promising either and suspensions could occur again. If we also consider that all those from Thursday’s afternoon shift have to play first, who knows what might happen. In any case, the wait will be much more comfortable seeing himself at the top of the leaderboard. Just like Englishman Richard Mansell (-5), the other leader, also with the round completed, or Guido Migliozzi (-4), just one shot off the lead with all 18 holes completed.
The great performance of Cantero has been built this week on exhaustive work from Monday to Wednesday with his coach, Jordi García del Moral, and his physical trainer, Diego Suazo, both present in Swiss lands. Obviously, these workloads during competition weeks do not guarantee an immediate impact on results, but on this occasion, it has worked. And if we delve more specifically, that 65-stroke card of the Spanish player has a lot to do with the 8-iron…
– That’s right, the 8-iron. With this club in hand, and it’s quite a coincidence, Cantero hit four stellar shots that propelled him up the leaderboard. The first, on hole 1, also hitting the second shot from the adjacent hole’s fairway after a great escape from the tee; the second, on hole 11, par 3, to cover the 190 metres to the flag (remember: it’s played at 1,500 metres altitude and the ball flies further) and leaving almost a given birdie; the third on hole 13, another par 3, this time with a flight of about 175 metres and then complementing it with a great putt of about six metres; and the fourth, as an extraterrestrial finish, on hole 14, par 5, hitting again from the neighbouring fairway after another great escape from the tee, to cover the 185 metres to the flag and leaving an eagle chance of less than a metre which he was going to convert…
– Good start for Manu Elvira (-2) and Alfredo García Heredia (-1), who have also been able to complete the round and beat the course, unlike Eugenio Chacarra (+1), who signed a 71. Alejandro del Rey (-2) and Nacho Elvira (-2), meanwhile, still have to finish the first round and will do so tomorrow from 8 AM, although both are marking a good record. Del Rey, who was leading the tournament with a five-under-par through his first eight holes, signed a double bogey on hole 4 after missing the tee shot to the left, but still had time before the final horn to hit a great shot from the tee of the 5th and will resume play tomorrow from the fairway and a little less than fifty metres from the flag.
– Ángel Ayora (+1), Joel Moscatel (+2) were over par at the time of suspension, but still have some margin to fix the round, with four and five holes to play, respectively. Miguel Ángel Jiménez (+3), meanwhile, was left with one hole to play, the par 5 of the 9th.
