Que Ángel Ayora o David Puig could win the Open de España seems an impossible mission. They are at -8 and are eight strokes behind Marco Penge. And Marco Penge is no ordinary player. However, if there are two who are eager for the epic, they are Puig and Ayora. They thrive on the challenge. They are birdie men. They can play very low. They are not afraid to go full throttle. They believe in themselves and have little to lose.
“Anything can happen. Marco is playing very well and it’s obvious that I will have to play very well this Sunday and get some help from him to win, but why not,” says Puig. Ayora shares this opinion and has close references to support it. “There are examples like my friend Kristoffer Reitan, capable of shooting eight and nine under on the last day to win the tournament. We insist: the mission is almost impossible, but these two are not afraid to perform the risky scenes of Tom Cruise.
The truth is that beyond what might happen tomorrow, today’s performance fell a bit short. It wasn’t a bad ‘moving day’, especially for David, but it was insufficient against an inspired player like Penge. Ayora shot 69 and Puig signed for 67. In both cases, it felt like it was going to be better, their starts were much more promising. In fact, Puig started like a rocket with two birdies on holes 1 and 2, with two very good putts, and another on the 4th by reaching the green in two. He was flying. Four under through eight holes. Right there, the production stopped. One more birdie and one bogey. Bittersweet feeling. It’s a great round, another under par in the DP World Tour, but he goes home with the conviction, once again, that it could have been better. Who knows if tomorrow will be the day when all the pieces fit together and that great round that’s been looming finally comes out.
Ayora didn’t start as well as Puig. Quite the opposite. He got going with two bogeys. Danger of derailment. Imagine the situation. Third round of the Open de España, best local golfer, 21 years old, more eyes than ever on his shoulders and that start… It’s not what one seeks.
That’s why we must value what the Malagueño did this Saturday. He recovered wonderfully. A couple of taps with his hand on the Seve logo printed on his chest to summon the genius, a magical recovery on the 4th for birdie, another on the 5th, a superb shot on the 7th to leave an eagle putt, and a monumental birdie on the 8th. In an hour, he had turned the round around. He was two under par and looking the lead in the eye. However, as in Puig’s case, the production stalled on that same 8th hole. From there, the same, one birdie and one bogey. Not enough to confidently say they have a chance of victory.
In any case, worse things have been seen in golf, and they will do everything they can to make it a magical Sunday at the Club de Campo Villa de Madrid. If they start well and the course begins to roar, nothing can be ruled out. Some simple calculations. The minimum would be to reach the -16 that Penge currently has and hope he has a bad day. For that, they would need to shoot 63…
As for the rest of the Spaniards, Jon Rahm (-4) and Luis Masaveu (-4) are in 28th place, Nacho Elvira (-3) and Sergio García (-3) are in 34th place, Rafa Cabrera Bello (-1) is 46th, Josele Ballester (PAR) is 55th, Alex del Rey (+1) has fallen to 62nd place, and Iván Cantero (+4) closes the classification alongside Zanotti and Scrivener.
