The course The International, this week’s venue for the KLM Open in Amsterdam, has a peculiar design. Its author, Ian Woosnam, was inspired by the iconic Muirfield in Gullane for the order of the holes. Thus, from 1 to 9 they are arranged in a huge circle, as a ring road, while inside that large circumference run the holes from 10 to 18. Based on this arrangement, it must be said that Manu Elvira is the master and lord this week of the AM30, that ring road that goes from 1 to 9. On Thursday he made 32 strokes in that stretch and today he has signed 31. Total: -9. Nobody has played better, or even come close, to these figures of the Spanish golfer.
This phenomenal display of Manu in that sequence of holes has allowed him to place himself very high in the tournament, one step away from the top 10 and only four strokes from the lead that has maintained Mikko Korhonen (-10). The Cantabrian has made 66 strokes today and is eleventh with six under par. That is, fully involved in the fight for victory with 36 holes to go. It is not little if we take into account that, beyond the triumph or what can be added, the KLM Open gives two places for the Open Championship to the two best in the tournament who are not already qualified for Royal Troon. “It’s true that maybe they catch my eye a little more, I think they give a little more margin and I’ve also put in some putt. In any case, you have to go very straight because the rough is the most penalizing of the year, to the point of losing the ball”, assures Manu to Ten Golf.
Even more merit has the performance of Elvira if we take into account that he clearly ‘ate’ the worst shift of the two. Of the top ten classified, only Ewen Ferguson (-7), Nicolo Galleti (-7) and Matthew Baldwin (-7) have played in the morning on Thursday and in the afternoon on Friday. So, only three golfers have done better than Manu and just one stroke. The top four played in the afternoon on Thursday and in the morning on Friday.
The Armada has had a solid performance. Beyond Elvira, they are far from the head but have put many elements in the cut and the differences are not very large. There are Ángel Hidalgo (-2), Álex del Rey (-2), in a counter-style field, Sebas García (-1), Ángel Ayora (-1), Adrián Otaegui (-1), Alfredo García Heredia (PAR) and Rafa Cabrera Bello (PAR).
It is worth highlighting Ayora’s cut. The 19-year-old is back playing all four days in the DP World Tour and shows the KLM Open that he was not mistaken with the invitation. In addition, this tournament also counts for the Road to Mallorca, so everything he adds here will also serve him for the Challenge Tour. Perhaps, the best of all is that he has passed the cut without having the golf face. It was one of those days when nothing goes well and on top of that he got a cruel triple bogey on the 9 that put him in a limit situation. He has recovered wonderfully with two birdies in the last five holes.
The cross of the week has been for Iván Cantero, Pablo Larrazábal, Adri Arnaus, Gonzalo Fernández Castaño and Santi Tarrio, who missed the cut. Especially painful was the case of Gonzalo, after his great round yesterday.
