– Patrick Reed (-14) is the leader of the Qatar Masters after signing a card of 70 strokes and will start tomorrow in the final round with a two-shot lead over his closest pursuer, Jacob Skov Olesen (-12), and three over Daniel Hillier (-11) and Ángel Ayora (-11). Reed has once again placed himself in the stellar Sunday match, as he did two weeks ago in Dubai and was about to do last week in Bahrain (he went out in the penultimate)… A textbook tyranny.
– It’s crazy: if the Texan manages to win tomorrow at the Doha Golf Club, he will have virtually secured the PGA Tour card through the DP World Tour, as he would accumulate more than 2,250 points in the Race to Dubai, and last year just over 2,200 were needed. And we are at the beginning of February. The tyranny of Schaper, more surprising, has been followed by that of Reed. Anyway, it doesn’t matter, these calculations are just an anecdote, because whether he wins or not in Qatar, no one can even imagine that Reed won’t be competing for the final ranking of the European circuit, with the pace he’s going and the formidable stature of player he is, amply demonstrated in all the important places and circuits in the world.
– Reed, who fears nothing and no one, also knows how to play it safe when necessary. Today he gave a lesson in strategy, aiming for the centre of the green most of the time on a particularly windy day, with the clear priority of avoiding big numbers. When the time comes, if needed, we will see him more aggressive, aiming for the flags. All in good time. Needless to say, he starts tomorrow as the main favourite, but surely the tyrant will still have to suffer greatly to secure his second victory in three weeks of anthology. Unbeatable, of course, he is not. Neither he nor anyone else. Just ask Freddy Schott, not to go too far, a first-time winner in Bahrain.
– The young Dane Skov Olesen also seems an excellent candidate, capable of unsettling anyone with his dizzying ability to score. We’ll see if he isn’t betrayed by haste and his aggression with second shots, So typical of his age and his DNA. Something similar can be said of Ayora, who, like Olesen, will seek his first victory in the DP World Tour tomorrow.
– The young Andalusian has lacked a bit more clarity and accuracy in those favourable, though not definitive, situations that tip the balance more decisively in a round of golf: he putted for eagle four times today on the par 5s and the short par 4 16th and only made birdie on one of those four occasions (hole 10). Let’s be clear, so no one is shocked. He was really putting from very far away, even from the fringe on some occasions, so the eagle was little more than a chimera and even the birdie was not guaranteed in any way… But it is in these types of situations where someone like Ángel, with such power, can truly make a bigger difference. Maybe it will happen tomorrow…
– Be that as it may, given his game and abilities, it’s not advisable to focus only on the negative. The point is that once again, and there have been quite a few in recent months, the Malagueño is in the mix when it counts, confirming and reconfirming that it’s only a matter of time before he makes the leap to the winners’ dimension. His playing partner tomorrow in the penultimate group, the New Zealander Hillier, has already managed to break that barrier, the first victory. The strange thing, to be honest, is that he hasn’t won more, so he is one or several steps above the Spaniard. Both, each with their own circumstances (Ayora, for example, is 21 years old and Hillier is already 27), appear to us as magnificent projects for the world’s top 50, we’ll see when, where, and how.
