Adrián Otaegui (-4) and Jorge Campillo (-4) are nailing their moves this week at the DP World Tour Championship. And we’re not just referring to the pure and simple result. That’s obvious. Both started on Thursday with a card of 71 strokes and today they have signed a second of 69. Of course, they are tied in the standings, on the verge of the top 10 and five strokes off the lead at the time of writing this story.
Beyond what the numbers say, Otaegui and Campillo are sharing sensations. Both are playing very well at golf. From tee to green, they are showing power and would really be higher up if they had been a bit more inspired on the greens. Today Adrián has improved compared to yesterday in that chapter. He has made five birdies and three of them have been from about four metres. That’s a good balance. Even so, it must be noted that he missed three birdie putts of less than three metres on holes 10, 12, and 13, as well as a two and a half metre putt he couldn’t sink on the 16th for par.
You don’t have to be a genius, it’s clear that not all putts from two to three metres go in, but if a couple of these had dropped, the man from Donostia would now be even higher up, surely within the top 10 and with the lead much more within reach. In any case, the most important thing is that his game is sharp, he almost always walks down the fairway and is hitting some very good irons. If there’s one weapon that usually doesn’t resist the Pirate of Goiburu, it’s the putter, so it’s not unreasonable to expect more from him in this area over the weekend.
Campillo, more of the same. He has played great golf from tee to green. Like yesterday, he hasn’t missed a fairway on the Earth course at Jumeirah until the 10th hole. This Friday, moreover, he has hit the irons much better, leaving them closer and, therefore, creating more chances. For instance, he has reached two of the four par 5s in two and in neither of them (7 and 14) has he managed to make the birdie. Three putts were to blame. Also on the 2nd, he had the option to go for two with a 3-iron, but the shot got away a bit and he couldn’t hit the green.
If we add to this that on the 5th he missed a very good chance of less than a metre, that on the 13th he again had a fairly straightforward chance of about two and a half metres, and that on the 18th his approach for birdie hung on the hole, it turns out that his 69, being good in the conditions being played, doesn’t quite satisfy. The reality is that he hasn’t gotten into any trouble. He practically couldn’t make a bogey.
The positive takeaway is that Campillo is having very good putting days lately. His work with Mike Kanski is yielding very good results, so it should not be ruled out, far from it, that we see him much more accurate on the greens over the weekend. That is why neither Otaegui nor Campillo, with good reason, should give up on anything in Dubai, not even fighting for victory on Sunday.
Nacho Elvira (-2) has managed to straighten out a round that started off rough. He bogeyed the 1st with three putts and another on the 2nd with a third shot from the fairway that ended up very long. However, from there he has signed a two-under stretch, like yesterday, with a birdie on the 3rd sinking a long putt and two more on the 15th and 17th, what a shot on the last par 3, which compensated for the bogey on the 13th. The Cantabrian had a slightly more complicated round today from tee to green. He had to roll up his sleeves and managed to pull off a valuable par stretch that also keeps his chances intact of finishing high and getting into the Open.
Ángel Hidalgo (+5) is somewhat stuck. “There’s no fuel in the tank,” he says. Today he shot 75, with four bogeys and a birdie. He is far down, at the bottom of the standings, but if anyone can be expected to give it their all in the next 36 holes and find a way to turn it around, it’s the man from Malaga. He won’t leave anything behind. The goal is to get into the top 25 of the Race to Dubai to secure the Open. He’s not that far from it.
