The Genesis Championship has completed the third round and has left us with two local idols at the top of the leaderboard and clear candidates for victory: Byeong Hun An (-12) and Tom Kim (-12). As you can see, they are not just two commendable Koreans out of the 34 who started the tournament last Thursday, but simply the two best, ranked 36th and 25th in the world, respectively.
Today’s performance by the young Tom has been one of those that leaves a mark and wins fans. He delivered a 67 after hitting the water off the tee on the 11th (immediately signing a fantastic par on that hole) and going out of bounds on the 15th, where he took a double bogey that seemingly burst the bubble. Nothing, nothing: birdie on the 16th and an eagle on the 18th to finish, and all’s well that ends well.
Anyway, tomorrow, Sunday, 17 players will start within a four-shot margin with the co-lead of the Korean stars, so there’s still much to be said at the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club (Incheon, South Korea). And in that section of the leaderboard, Alejandro Del Rey (-10) and Iván Cantero (-9) are well positioned after delivering scorecards of 69 and 71 strokes.
Cantero has more on his mind, as he is playing this week for full playing rights for 2025. He started Thursday in 117th place in the Race to Dubai with the goal of getting into at least the top 114, which is where the cut is, and right now he would be achieving that goal, as the projection after 54 holes places him in 106th. But it’s tough, as many ‘needy’ players are up there.
Today, the Asturian finished a well-worked round of golf, as he didn’t get his first birdie until the 15th hole. But he was also able to minimise mistakes (just one bogey) and finish with a birdie on the 18th to beat the course, improving in quality and ease of play.
Del Rey‘s situation is not as delicate. The Madrid native needed to secure his presence in the first playoff, in Abu Dhabi, where the top seventy in the Race qualify (he arrived 68th). Alejandro signed a very eventful first third of the round today, too eventful and inconsistent, with three bogeys and two birdies, but then he stabilised his game and kept putting for birdie on every hole, with a four-under-par in those last two-thirds of the course.
In any case, there are no better calculations for a player than to go out and fight for victory on a Sunday. And both Del Rey and Cantero appear on the radar pointing to the contenders. This mentality, of going for the win, would surely be the most appropriate when facing the final round, but these are very easy things to say and very difficult to do, especially in Cantero’s case.
Manu Elvira (-6) also had the goal of getting into Abu Dhabi, although he would need a great tournament to do so. And it’s certainly not bad. Today he came back to beat the course (71). Alfredo García Heredia (+1), on the other hand, lost ground today with a triple bogey on the 6th hole and has put his place in Abu Dhabi at risk (he arrived in 67th place in the Race and now the projection places him 72nd). He has room, however, in the final round to recover.
