There is a video circulating in recent hours on social media and news outlets that has gone viral. It’s no wonder. The image is very striking. It shows a road in Seoul where suddenly a giant sinkhole opens up. A car narrowly escapes tragedy in a miraculous way. It had the luck that the motorcyclist right behind it lacked. Life at the DLF Golf and Country Club in India is somewhat similar.
As soon as you get two consecutive birdies and go under par, a sinkhole opens up on your scorecard, and you end up with a double, triple, or much-worse bogey. Of course, it’s crucial to play well to avoid these accidents, but you also need a bit of luck. In golf, the line of chance is always very thin, and in the Hero Indian Open, even more so. The round of Ángel Ayora (-2), the best Spaniard along with Eugenio López Chacarra (-2) after the first round, serves as a perfect example.
The young golfer from Malaga had his round absolutely under control. In fact, his partial score of three under par after 13 holes was worth its weight in gold. He was just one stroke off the lead. However, at that very moment, the sinkhole opened. He scored a bogey on the 5th and a triple bogey on the 6th. In the blink of an eye, he went from being one stroke off the lead to falling beyond the 50th position. And don’t think the 7th hole was a disaster. Simply, we are at the DLF.
Ayora missed his drive to the right, and the ball ended up between a trunk and a bush. From there, it ended up in another of those Indian bushes that resemble a hedgehog. He got it out as best he could and ended up in the high rough. He had already hit three shots and was still 200 metres from the flag. His fourth shot ended up in the bunker, out and two putts. Of course, the double bogey putt smoothed the hole. That’s what the DLF is like. Everything that can go wrong, goes even worse.
The most important thing for the players this week is to accept that these things can happen, that it happens to everyone, or almost everyone, and that you have to keep fighting. That’s what Ayora did, and that’s why he scored a birdie on the 7th and an eagle on the 8th. Better response impossible. The triple bogey swallowed and digested. On the eagle, he hit a great drive to the fairway and left himself 188 metres to the flag. He hit a 7-iron low to avoid the wind, bounced on the lower part of the green, and rolled up to stay three metres from the flag. In. Spectacular. Life at DLF summed up in two holes.
Ayora and Chacarra are in tenth position, just two strokes off the lead shared by Nicolas Colsaerts (-4), Marcus Kinhult (-4), and Marcus Armitage (-4). Chacarra’s round has been somewhat calmer than Ayora’s, but he also didn’t miss his double bogey on the 6th hole. However, he has signed a magnificent harvest of five birdies.
The rest of the Spaniards will have to grit their teeth tomorrow to make the cut. Right now, they are all out: Nacho Elvira (+2), Manu Elvira (+3), Jorge Campillo (+3), Ángel Hidalgo (+3), Pablo Larrazábal (+3), Joel Moscatel (+5), and Rafa Cabrera Bello (+9). The Canary Islander is one of the 19 players who have scored 80 or more strokes. There have been twice as many cards over 80 as under 70. It’s the DLF in its purest form. When it catches you, it catches you. In holes 6, 8, 17, and 18, there have been between 14 and 15 double bogey or worse results.
That’s what to expect at the Hero Indian Open. You have to be prepared for the worst, digest it as quickly as possible, and have your little dose of luck.
