Manuel Quirós (+1) has been the protagonist of one of the great feats of the second day of the Danish Golf Championship, suspended yesterday due to wind and resumed this Saturday morning. The golfer from Malaga, from Benahavís, 45 years old, has made the cut after handing in a card of 66, without bogeys. He has made eleven strokes less than the first day, in very difficult playing conditions. It is his first cut in the DP World Tour since 2012, specifically since the Spanish Open that was held in May at the Real Club Sevilla Golf and ended with the victory of Francesco Molinari.
It is said soon. It is true that during this time Quirós has played very little on the European circuit, but twelve years are twelve years. It was about time he gave himself a joy of this size. His last cut in a Challenge Tour tournament was in April 2017, in Turkey. More than seven years. It’s not a small thing.
The golfer from Malaga has finished the feat in the style of Manuel Quirós, on a tough, complicated day, where pars were good, those golf days when you have to be patient from start to finish and take advantage of opportunities. He has done it. He has putted very well, has put some from outside and has achieved five birdies. It is his 76th tournament on the European Tour and he only has three lower rounds registered in his career: a 62 at the Madrid Masters in 2009, a 64 at the Vivendi Cup in 2010 and a 65 at the Andalusia Open in 2008. It is his big day on his own merits.
We will see where the weekend takes him, but the simple fact of proving to himself that twelve years later he still has it to compete at the height of the best, is to be very satisfied already. And that, fully involved in his work at the Real Club de Golf de Las Brisas, he has few opportunities to compete. This year he achieved a discreet category through the school that also did not give him many options to play. In fact, it is his second tournament on the DP World Tour after Kenya.
Rafa Cabrera Bello (PAR) has also made the cut in Denmark. The Canarian has made a partial of +2 in ten holes, with two bogeys and no birdie. It has been tough. Confidence is not through the roof, after five consecutive missed cuts, and for this reason the three pars he has made on holes 16, 17 and 18, holes that have been played very complicated, with the threat of the cut over his head after making two consecutive bogeys on 14 and 15, must be highly valued.
Rafa and Quirós are the only Spaniards who have made the cut at the Lubker Golf Resort. Two survivors of the great shipwreck, as eleven of ours have been left out. The sieve closed at +1 and Iván Cantero was left at the gates.
At the top, the leader is Lucas Bjerregaard (-7), who has signed a great card of 65 strokes between yesterday and today, only surpassed by Ugo Coussaud (-1) and Andy Sullivan (-4), both with 64. It’s curious. There was a not too distant time when Bjerregaard, before the irruption of the Hojgaard at the head of a great Danish generation, seemed destined to be the reference of golf in Denmark. Just now, come to less but trying to return to the highest level, he is the leader at home.
Bjerregaard has a two-stroke lead over seven players: Pepperell, Rasmus Hojgaard, Langasque, Guerrier, Saddier, Reitan and Neergaard-Petersen. Also noteworthy is the presence in the top 10 of the amateur Jacob Skov Olesen, winner of the British Amateur this year. Speaking of the power of the new Danish generations.
We have a great day of movement left for this same Saturday, as we have no less than 41 players separated only by five strokes and between the last one who has made the cut and the second classified there are only six impacts of difference. Really, anything can still happen in Denmark.
