If there was a manual on how to do well this week at the British Masters, point 2, very clear, would appear: be close to Tyrrell Hatton (-10). It’s not much of a mystery. Even playing at LIV Golf, which we already know the handicap it has, the Englishman is still the best player in the tournament by world ranking. It would not be necessary in this case to go to the classification to have it clear. It’s a matter of record, form and performance in the Majors. No matter how you look at it, Hatton is the favourite to win at Belfry and, moreover, he is willing to corroborate it.
This Friday, on the second day, he has handed in a sensational card of 65 strokes, the best of what we have of the tournament so far. He has made eight birdies and a solitary bogey. It was a very Hatton round. With clean iron shots. Five of his eight birdies have been with putts of less than two and a half meters. These types of rounds appear when the Englishman takes out the laser for a walk and accompanies it with a couple of putts here and there.
Obviously, Hatton is the sole leader of the British Masters and Jorge Campillo (-9) has strictly followed that point number 2 of the invented manual. He is stuck to his wheel. Close to Hatton, the normal thing is good. Far from Hatton, the normal thing is bad. Jorge has signed 67 strokes, matching his best result at the Brabazon course at Belfry. The reconquest continues. First there were some eyes and now they are talking. There is the whole weekend ahead to consolidate the relationship. In his first appearance at Belfry, he made it into the top 10. From there, he always missed the cut. Things are back in place.
Campillo has offered a beautiful exhibition with the irons. The statistics, in this case, corroborate his magnificent sensations. He has hunted 15 greens and of the three he has missed, two have been practically to the collar. He only had problems to save par on hole 16. There he did it perfectly with a sensational recovery from the rough about 50 meters from the flag.
In addition to the irons, Jorge has putted like the angels. Four of his five birdies have come from beyond four and a half meters, one has been from 7.5 and another, on the 17th, the bomb of the day, from about 15 meters. If Campillo aligns the irons and the putt on a good day of golf, the normal thing is that the result is as low as today.
The golfer from Norba seems willing to shed some light on the British Masters after the long and dark summer that Spanish golf has been having. For now he is second alone. The best position of the Armada at the end of a tournament since June 21 is a fifth. We’ll see if he can beat it. The rest of the Spaniards who played in the morning have missed the cut: Pablo Larrazábal, Gonzalo Fernández Castaño, Manu Elvira, Adri Arnaus and Alfredo García Heredia.
In Campillo’s wheel is the Frenchman Tom Vaillant (-8), let’s not falter and we also have in the top part Thriston Lawrence (-7) and Harry Hall (-5). The young Kris Kim, 16 years old, has managed to shake off yesterday’s bad day with a card of 73 strokes, although it has been insufficient to make the cut. Finally, the Ryder, oh the Ryder… The two players who have shared tee time with Luke Donald have missed the cut: Ferguson and Norrman. However, Rasmus Hojgaard (-4) has starred in one of the comebacks of the day with a card of 67 strokes.
