– Alfredo García Heredia (-5) has picked up in Madrid where he left off in Switzerland. The same momentum that led him to a playoff for victory and, ultimately, to secure his playing rights on the European circuit for 2025. This week, at the Spanish Open, he is already aiming for much more ambitious and unprecedented goals in his career. Indeed, after signing a 67 on the second day and getting into the last matches on Saturday, with all options open, absolutely all, he could take another big leap in the Race to Dubai. Without going any further: if the tournament ended right now, the third position that the Spaniard occupies would take him to the 42nd place in the ranking, which in turn would already put him headfirst into the first play off of the DP World Tour, which is played in Abu Dhabi, and would almost also assure him a place in the Dubai Final.
The recipe is quite simple: Alfredo is playing very well at golf. He is hitting many greens in regulation, but not only that: it would probably be difficult to find a player today who has left it so many times near the flag. If we rewind, something similar happened a few weeks ago in Switzerland. Excellent irons and excellent wedges. There, in Crans, he was also seen calm coming out in the last matches and fighting for victory until the end, so there is no choice but to consider him the favourite. As clear as that.
– “How was this about playing a weekend?” The question was asked by Pablo Larrazábal (-1) looking at the audience just before signing a card of 68 strokes that has indeed allowed him to pass a cut after having missed the previous six. It’s curious, because the Barcelona native had also passed the previous four cuts of this tournament, all of which have been recently held at the Club de Campo Villa de Madrid. Only two other players have achieved this full house of five consecutive cuts: Jon Rahm and Grant Forrest.
– The Spanish Armada continues to strengthen in the hot stretch of the classification, with five players in the top ten (Hidalgo, García Heredia, Rahm, Arnaus and Puig), seven in the top 15 (we must add Masaveu and Sebas García) and ten in the top 25 (let’s now add Larrazábal, Chacarra and Del Rey). All of them are part of the group of 37 players who are below par after the first two rounds. In addition, Campillo, Otaegui and Tarrio have also made the cut. The Armada’s performance in this edition of our Open is serious business.
– However, José Luis Ballester, the winner of the US Amateur, has been left out. But the player from Castellón did not leave sad or disappointed, far from it. It will probably be because of how hard and well he fought today (round at par of 71 strokes, having played on the most complicated side of the draw, the one that has swallowed the 36 holes with wind on Thursday morning and Friday afternoon).
– What a lesson in self-love Shane Lowry (-1) has given today. It wouldn’t have been very difficult for him to let go, after a bad first round and with all that he carries (he has played in nine of the last eleven weeks). But this guy doesn’t do things by halves, so he signed the best result of the afternoon shift (66) and will be there at the weekend. This 2024 is being the best year of his career and it wouldn’t be so strange that sooner rather than later he broke his ceiling in the world ranking. The highest he ever was was 16th, but it gives the impression that today he is a more consistent player and much more capable of fighting for a place even within the top ten worldwide.
