– Jorge Campillo (-17) shares the lead with American Jordan Gumberg (-17) after the third round of the Hainan Classic and, therefore, will go into tomorrow with every chance of securing his fourth victory on the DP World Tour. The Extremaduran posted an excellent 67 today, with no bogeys, at the Blackstone course at Mission Hills (Hainan Island, China) which has lifted him into a share of the lead, one stroke ahead of Dylan Fritelli (-16) and three clear of a trio formed by another South African, Thriston Lawrence (-14), the young Chinese local favourite Wenyi Ding (-14) and the Scot Euan Walker (-14). The winner should come from these six contenders, although the solidity shown by the Spaniard and his privileged position in the Sunday feature group invite optimism.
– There is no year in which Campillo does not find himself looking dead-centre at victory one or more times. Evidence of this are, of course, his three wins (Morocco, Qatar and Kenya), but also the ten runner-up finishes he has, the eight third places and, overall, the 53 top-ten finishes that adorn his extensive career. This means Campillo has finished first, second or third in more than five per cent of the 414 tournaments he has already played on the European circuit, not counting this week. The final reading of this figure is very simple: if someone thinks that percentage is modest, they do not understand much about this blessed sport at the top level…
– Gumberg has also carded a good 69, but has been somewhat less consistent than in previous rounds (three bogeys on his card). Campillo, for his part, describes his round as “very tidy” above all, and although he also had to get out of a couple of tricky situations to finish without a blemish on the card, the truth is he also left some good chances behind along the way. For example, right at the start on the 1st, where he missed a good birdie opportunity with a putt from about two and a half metres. Or at the 14th, where he missed a one-and-a-half metre putt for birdie… Curiously, in this week without television coverage and without shot tracker, the Spaniard was initially credited with a bogey at the 14th, when in fact he had missed an excellent birdie chance.
– Over the back nine of the Chinese course Campillo recorded only one birdie, but the truth is he hit every green in regulation in that stretch of the course, including the 18th, where he rolled a putt from about five metres to reach the solo lead, although he missed it. On the front nine, however, he had holed good mid-distance birdie putts and, above all, had negotiated the day’s most delicate situation after missing the tee shot badly left at the 8th, a par-3, thanks to a magical chip that left him able to get up-and-down.
– Finally, it is worth highlighting the performance of Yanhan Zhou (-12), the 17-year-old Chinese who is already a professional and who last year won seven tournaments on the Chinese circuit, several of them before turning 17… The interest his prodigy-like trajectory has generated earned him an invitation to the Puerto Rico Open last week, although he missed the cut on his first venture on the PGA Tour. So far, he has played six tournaments on the DP World Tour and only made the cut last year in the two held in his country. But here he is again in his country, admittedly, yet starting the final day five shots off the lead. Let’s give it time, because his precocity is enormous and if his projection remains on an upward path perhaps, who knows, we may be witnessing the first future Major winner born in China, with due permission from Haotong Li.
