Iván Cantero has gone from being one of the least effective putters on the DP World Tour to becoming a reference for his colleagues on the greens. From night to day. From the dark tunnel to the brightest clarity. Almost overnight. And how is that done? What button has the Asturian pressed? Well, no, if only everything was as easy as pressing a button and solving it. Rather, the merit was in pressing the right key and in that sense we must give credit to Alex Larrázabal.
The golfer from Llanes was somewhat lost with the putt. Not only was he not sinking what was necessary, but he was also leaving some very short birdie and par options along the way. Desperation. It was materially impossible to make a result with that baggage on the greens and he sought solutions. He put himself in the hands of the eldest of the Larrazábal brothers and saw the light.
“We have worked mainly on the rhythm. I was doing it very abruptly and that caused me many problems in controlling the force. In addition, I had a problem in the rise of the club, as it went very quickly outwards. The mix of the two things, bad rhythm and inconsistent rise, was lethal. So we are working a lot on that and on alignment, as I have always sinned by pointing too far to the right”, explains Iván to Ten Golf.
Cantero was very low in the stroke gained putting ranking of the DP World Tour after the first tournaments of the season, however everything changed from Qatar. In Doha he finished among the top 25, in positive, the following week in Kenya he was already among the top 20 putters and in Eastern Cape seven days ago he was one of the ten most accurate. If we add to this what happened today, where he has been the best, the evolution cannot be more positive.
“Today I have put everything in, but everything”, he confessed with a mischievous smile. Specifically, he has sunk four very long putts, it is that scale in which you are thinking about not making three putts. And then he has put in a chip from outside. “It has been one of those rounds in which everything has come out and that’s why the 64 strokes”, the best round of his professional career.
However, behind this good evolution of Iván is also the work he has done on his swing with Miguel Ángel Duque to stabilize the driver. He is much more comfortable and solid from the tee and that translates into more rounds under par. “I’m hitting it better, I’m in position more often and that also increases confidence”, he says. Thus, when all this comes together, that’s when the rounds appear where it seems that everything has come out.
Cantero and his -8 of the morning has ended the day as leader of the Jonsson Workwear Open tied with Keenan Davidse and with a one-stroke advantage over Oliver Bekker, Louis de Jager and Thriston Lawrence, who all played in the afternoon shift.
The best Spanish player of the afternoon draw was Ángel Hidalgo (-5). The golfer from Malaga has once again given a lesson in courage. There are not many who know how to overcome a severe stumble in the round. Today it happened to him again. He started the day very well, with two birdies on 10 and 11 and, suddenly, a crash on holes 13 and 14 with a bogey and a double bogey. Everything added up was going down the drain in a flash…
His reaction has been sensational. He has signed a six-under par in the last twelve holes, with special mention to those three consecutive birdies on 5, 6 and 7. Great shot to 5, par 3, which almost made it, easy birdie with two putts on 6, a par 5 that was played today with wind in favour, and great putt of about three meters on 7. Pim, pam, pum and -5 in the clubhouse. Top 10.
“The most important thing this week is to go down the street, which are not easy to catch. The ball does not settle and sometimes catches mud, but of course, although you cannot clean the ball in the street, it is much worse if you have mud in the rough, especially with this swimming pool grass…”, he assures Ten Golf.
Did you know the concept of swimming pool grass? This one who writes can assure you that no… “Yes, man, that grass that grows around the edges of the classic urbanization pools of all life, that chubby grass is the swimming pool grass”, explains Ángel. Now you know, you will never go to bed without learning something new.
Beyond the anecdote, Hidalgo’s round has been very solid. Taking the double bogey out of the equation, he has hit the ball very well and continues to show that he is close to giving a big scare.
As for the rest of the Spanish players in the afternoon, Nacho Elvira (-3) has also had a good start, Adri Arnaus (-2) is within the cut and Rafa Cabrera Bello (-1) and Manuel Elvira (+2) will have to react tomorrow.
