Impressive debut by Ángel Ayora (-3) as a professional in an official DP World Tour tournament. The Andalusian golfer, who made his debut in the Final of the School a couple of weeks ago, has handed in a scorecard of 69 strokes on the The Lakes course and has placed in the top 25 after the first day of the ISPS Handa Australian Open. His business card reads: I make a lot of birdies. Proven.
At 19, Ayora has produced seven birdies in his first 18 holes, demonstrating, above all, a great ability to react to adversity. The first thing he did on the day was a bogey on his third hole, he turned it around with a birdie on the 6th, made another mistake on the 7th and then chained three consecutive birdies on holes 8, 9 and 10. He even got to a partial four under par with four holes to go, although he finished with two bogeys, 15 and 18 and one more birdie on the 17th. The only bogey he didn’t react to with a birdie was because he ran out of holes.
Be that as it may, it is a very good debut, taking great advantage of the par 5s and leaving ground on the par 3s, his real cross this Thursday. Ayora’s round is even more meritorious because he has not been lucky with the weather. He played in the afternoon at the Lakes and was affected by a tremendous downpour that fell only on this course, not a drop on the The Australian, and which forced play to stop for an hour. In fact, of those who played in his slot, in the afternoon at the Lakes, a total of 36 players, only two handed in better scorecards than Ángel: John Catlin (-5) and Scott Strange (-4).
Thus, Ayora is six strokes behind the leader, Cameron Davis (-9), who played at the Lakes in the morning. The Australian, a PGA Tour player, won the last Australian Open that passed through The Australian in 2017. Davis has a one-stroke lead over American Patrick Rodgers (-8), also a PGA Tour player, and two over Scotsman Connor Syme (-7) and Australian Haydn Hopewell (-7). The most favoured shift today has been the one that played in the morning at the Lakes. The cotton does not deceive. Of the top 16 in the standings, ten played in that slot.
Also noteworthy are the rounds of Min Woo Lee (-5), one of the favourites to win after his victory last Sunday at the Australian PGA Championship, as well as Joaco Niemman (-5), who handed in the third best result at The Australian or Johnattan Vegas (-5). On the other hand, Cameron Smith (-1) is struggling to find his best form at the end of the year. After missing the cut last week, he is currently on the score that marks the provisional cut of the tournament.
As for the rest of the Spaniards, Alfredo García Heredia (-2) has signed a scorecard of 69 strokes at The Australian with a superb finish (eagle-birdie), Joel Moscatel (-1), on the other hand, has finished with two bogeys on 17 and 18 at the Lakes, although he continues to play under par in this sensational Australian tour he is undertaking, and Rafa Cabrera Bello (+3) has struggled more with a 74 at The Australian.
An amateur leads the Australian Women’s Open
As you know, the men’s and women’s versions of the Australian Open are being played at the same time and on the same courses. They play on the same courses, but they are two different tournaments, each with its own prize purse and played from different tees and with a different configuration (the Lakes is par 73 and The Australian is par 72, one stroke more than in the men’s version). In fact, players and players are not mixed in the playing groups, but alternate. There are no Spanish women playing.
The first leaders are amateur Rachel Lee (-6), Number 379 in the world amateur ranking, and veteran Korean Jenny Shin (-6). Also noteworthy are the starts of the indomitable Jiyai Shin (-5), as well as the favourite Minjee Lee (-4), Ashleigh Buhai (-4) and Stephanie Kyriacou (-4).
