Marco Penge (-9) is the sole leader of the Open de España after delivering a bogey-free round of 67 this Friday at the Club de Campo Villa de Madrid. The best Spaniard is Ángel Ayora (-6), positioned in eleventh place after signing a score of 69. Both have played together. Both hit the ball very long. So much so that Penge, one of the longest hitters in the world, confessed to the Andalusian: “I’m not used to a player outdriving me unless I hit it perfectly.” The leader’s compliment delighted Ayora. It brought a wide smile to his face, much like the one he released when he holed a sensational par putt on the 8th hole.
Not only Penge is amazed by Ayora’s hitting. It turns out that John Parry, the third member of the group, said to him on Thursday walking down the 16th fairway: “Can you tell me what your ball speed is? I can’t understand how you outdrive me by 70 metres when I’ve hit this one really well.” Estimate 190 kilometres per hour. You won’t be wrong. That’s Ayora. He impresses left and right. That’s the best Spaniard classified in this Open de España, the main hope for victory. That’s the best member of the Armada in the Race to Dubai.
The best part is that Ayora still has room for improvement. Without being completely sharp, he’s placed on the edge of the top 10. It’s like Mondo Duplantis when he breaks world records and you still see there’s more than a hand’s breadth between his body and the bar. He’s got plenty to spare. His short game today was discreet. It was seen on holes 10 and 11, his two bogeys, and on 18, where he had a great birdie chance ruined by a bad approach. “I know what happened. It’s a matter of ball positioning. I’ll tell him later and we’ll fix it in a minute. It’s something very easy,” said Juan Ochoa, his caddie and coach, after finishing.
Ayora is the main hope of Spanish golf for victory, but we have a more than interesting group of four players all placed at -4: Luis Masaveu (-4), Jon Rahm (-4), Rafa Cabrera Bello (-4), and David Puig (-4). We should not rule out Nacho Elvira (-3) or Josele Ballester (-2), another who has room for improvement. If he takes advantage of the par 5s over the weekend, he could shoot up the leaderboard. Don’t lose sight of him. Also making the cut are Sergio García (-1), Iván Cantero (PAR), and Alex del Rey (PAR).
Nine Spaniards have missed the cut. The most painful cases have been Jorge Campillo (+1), who missed by one after making three bogeys in the last three holes, and Alfredo García Heredia, who went from being in the fight for victory to missing out with a card of 75. Cruel. Similarly, Ángel Hidalgo, the defending champion, and Joel Moscatel have missed the cut. The latter is left with India’s only chance to try to maintain playing rights for another year on the DP World Tour without going through the School again. He is currently seventh reserve. He has chances to get in.
Beyond the Spaniards, we must highlight the second place shared by Joel Girrbach (-8), Aaron Cockerill (-8), and Jeff Winther (-8). Two shots behind is another large group of six players, among whom Patrick Reed stands out, a player still searching for his first victory on the DP World Tour.
Honour and recognition to Shane Lowry (+1), despite missing the cut in this Open de España. After Thursday’s 75, he sought to come back in every way, but his round of 68 fell short by one stroke. Still, on the 18th, he created a birdie chance from just over four metres. The putt he had a few days ago at Bethpage, the one that finally guaranteed Europe retained the Ryder, was not even two. That one went in. This Friday’s did not. But the Irishman, as then, had arrived alive at that decisive point, saving the distances, as is logical, because it doesn’t seem likely to encounter many putts of the significance of the one at Bethpage.
