Ángel Ayora had hit a nice little wood, smooth, for his second shot on the 18th hole, par 5, but the ball had ended up in the bunker that guards the right flank of that green. Once he checked the exact position of the ball in the sand trap and just before getting down to business, he turned to his caddie and coach, Juan Ochoa, and explained: “I’m going to hole it… And if I don’t, let it go a hair on the low side.” Bingo. The young Andalusian closed with an eagle for the round and shot up the leaderboard.
An eagle is always an eagle, but there have been other more significant keys in this great start for the Spaniard in Qatar. One of them has been the putter, without a doubt. Beyond specific successes, like some medium and long-distance putts he has holed, and even the mistakes (he’s also missed some short putts), the feelings have been very good on the greens. After missing the cut in Bahrain, Ángel worked hard over the weekend on the putting green, especially on force control. Additionally, he received good and valuable tips on the Aim Point technique from Álvaro Alonso, caddie of Rocco Repetto and expert in that system.
The work of Juan Carlos Ferrero is also becoming noticeable, although it is still too early to talk about it as a proven reality. But Ochoa firmly believes that the good attitude shown by Ayora in this first round is related to Ferrero’s presence and work in Dubai and Bahrain. The young Andalusian’s coach explains that this work has focused on “being really aware that bad shots will come in every round and that one cannot be worried about it or overreact when it happens.”
In this aspect, of good mentality and concentration ability, there was a key and delicate moment in the round, the 15th hole. After missing the tee shot to the left rough on this little monster (today it was the most difficult hole on the course, as is usually the case), he had a long shot to the green and it turned out his group was already being monitored by the referee’s clock. Some rush and nerves, ball in a bad position, an 8-iron at full power and the ball goes wild and ends up behind the green… Again rush, nerves, and a faulty chip that sends the ball to the bunker, from where a great escape allowed him to save a good bogey. In any case, Ayora was able to move on very quickly, without giving it much importance, which undoubtedly was crucial to closing with birdies on holes 16 and 17, and the aforementioned splendid eagle on the 18th.
