– Wind, wind and more wind. Gale. Almost hurricane-like at times. Beyond what the forecast indicated. A stressful Friday at the KLM Open. A day of absolute survival. By the end of the morning session, only two players had beaten the course: Joakim Lagergren (68 strokes) and Manu Elvira (69). Two feats. Hitting the fairway is a heroic act on each hole with a crosswind. Reaching the green, more of the same. Putting is simply madness. Almost a coin toss. Stress and more stress.
– Ángel Hidalgo hit a 398-yard drive on the 3rd hole. Hidalgo is not Nienaber. Imagine how much it was blowing in favour. Manu Elvira fired an arrow with the 2-iron on the 17th, down the middle of the hole, and ended up opening 20 metres due to the wind. He was on the green, but he didn’t have a putt towards the hole. Crazy. It was a matter of enduring, swallowing the bitter pill and moving on. Nothing more.
– The Spaniards did very well in these conditions. Spanish Gladiators. As for Manu, as we’ve said, it was a feat. And it was even better. With two holes to go, he was five under par for the day for a total of -5, right at the top. The problem is he finished with a bogey and a double bogey. On the 17th and 18th. Remember what happened on the 17th. The drive on the 18th wasn’t much better. He missed left, ended up in the high rough and it was a lost ball. Double bogey. It’s a painful finish, but the wind shouldn’t obscure the bigger picture. His round was extraordinary, playing very well and sinking some really good and very long putts, some around 15 metres. In any case, he’s in the fight for victory with a total of -2. He’s six strokes behind leader Lagergren (-8) and three behind Scotsman Connor Syme (-5). Ahead, with the round finished, are also Pierre Pineau (-4) and Oliver Lindell (-3).
– Jorge Campillo (-2), Rafa Cabrera Bello (-2) and Ángel Hidalgo (-1) are also up there and it shouldn’t be ruled out that by the end of the day they break into the top 10. Campillo played spectacularly, as did Rafa, who only made two mistakes in 18 holes… In these conditions. Another pure performance. You need to have a very good swing to withstand this wind and keep the ball in play.
– Nacho Elvira (+2), Eugenio Chacarra (+2) and Joel Moscatel (+3) have also secured the cut, with rounds of 75, 71 and 73 strokes, respectively. It shouldn’t be ruled out that even Ángel Ayora’s +4 makes it. At the time of writing this report, he is in 73rd place. He’s gradually moving up and we’ll see if he ends up reaching 65th place. He has chances.
– Those who are definitely out are Albert Boneta (+12), 79 strokes today, and Gonzalo Fernández Castaño, who disqualified himself after finishing his third hole of the day. It was at that moment, when he noticed the volunteer carrying the match scoreboard with a placard, that he realised something was off with his score. He reviewed his card from yesterday and realised he had signed it incorrectly. On the 9th hole, he had been marked a bogey instead of a double bogey and didn’t notice when signing the card. He didn’t correct it. A mishap, but also a lesson in sportsmanship that shouldn’t be overlooked. No one would have noticed had he not reported himself. Hats off to Gonzalo.
