– Adrián Otaegui (-16) has carded a 62 in the third round of the Volvo China Open and has taken the solo lead with one round to play, holding a one-shot advantage over his nearest challenger, Bernd Wiesberger (-15), who will be his partner tomorrow in the feature pairing.
– The Basque player, naturalised Emirati more than a year ago, enjoyed himself and, above all, has confirmed that he has recovered his best form after a 2025 in which he finished with the worst position of his career in the tour rankings (122nd). What a round from him, with two shots holed from off the green, one of them for an eagle (hole 4), as well as a lovely succession of fantastic shots, especially over the first two thirds of the Shanghai Enhance Anting Golf Club. He finished by holing it from off the 16th, sinking a very long putt to save par at the 17th, and adding another birdie at the 18th, the course’s last par 5. A steamroller.
– Somehow the Armada keeps up the tradition at the Volvo China Open. A tradition that truly astonishes, because in the last five editions in which this tournament has been part of the DP World Tour schedule (2017, 2018, 2019, 2024 and 2025) there has always been at least one Spanish player in the final two groups on Sunday, which is once again the case with the presence of Alejandro del Rey (-11) in tomorrow’s penultimate group. Moreover, in four of those five editions a Spaniard featured in the feature pairing, a circumstance that technically does not apply this time, since Adrián defends the colours of the United Arab Emirates flag. Although, if one allows the biased nuance, it’s incredibly hard not to consider him another member of the Armada…
– Otaegui, as is well known, already won this tournament in 2024, although he did so at another course. Tomorrow he will seek his sixth victory on the European Tour, a tally that is truly impressive and within reach of very few. And what lies ahead: Adrián is playing his thirteenth consecutive season on the DP World Tour, yet he is only 33 years old…
– Del Rey continues, quite legitimately, to live off that breathtaking 61 from Thursday, but he will still tee off tomorrow with some chance of victory, five shots off the lead. Today he probably lacked that spark or sense of occasion that is always needed on the greens to have got a little closer to the leader, but in any case he is in a position to close out his best week (by far) of the season and give his Race to Dubai ranking a big push, which he sorely needed.
– Ángel Ayora (-8) and Ángel Hidalgo (-7) are not among the cluster of contenders, although both have played under par, with special mention for Hidalgo, who has now posted three under-par rounds this week, something he had not managed since last September, at the Irish Open. The two Andalusians, in any case, can still have serious chances of finishing high on the leaderboard, as they tee off three and four shots off the third-placed player respectively, and it has already been seen that this week, on this course, low-scoring cards are possible. A similar point can be made for Quim Vidal (-6), who in his recent appearances had already looked much sharper and more competitive. Today he was somewhat held back with an even-par round (71), but tomorrow he tees off just two shots off the top ten and every point he earns is gold
