Casey Jarvis (-13) is the solo leader of the ISPS Handa Championship after the third round. The very young South African (he is only 20 years old), a rookie this year on the DP World Tour, has signed six birdies and completed an immaculate round, without errors, to deliver one of the four 64-stroke cards of the day, the best record of the day at the Japanese Gotemba course.
The other ‘sixty-fours’ of the day have been run by the Chinese Haoton Li (-11), who will go out tomorrow with all the options of victory, only two strokes from the head; Matthieu Pavon (-10), with a partial of five less for the last seven holes of the course to confirm that he, the fashionable player in 2024 and Number 21 in the world, has not come for a walk to the far east; and Iván Cantero (-10), who like Li and Pavon will go out tomorrow to play as a serious candidate for victory.
Cantero started with an early bogey on hole 1, but immediately chained three consecutive birdies on holes 2, 3 and 4 to dramatically turn the dynamics around. In addition, a little later, he starred in one of the great moments of the day with his eagle on hole 8. He hit a powerful drive from the tee (around 300 meters away) and then a precise wedge 117 meters from the flag: the ball greeted the flag and, after bouncing two meters behind, used the backspin to end up inside the cup. When you play easy and tidy sometimes, just sometimes, these things happen. And that’s exactly what Iván Cantero is doing, playing with a lot of order, going from less to more in absolutely all areas of the game.
Tomorrow Sunday he goes out in the penultimate match along with Pavon and Soderberg, a wonderful test of fire. The Asturian will seek his first victory on the DP World Tour, and if anyone is looking for evidence of how difficult it is to win on this circuit, they can find it right there: Pavon and Soderberg have only won once.
Cantero is not the only bullet of the Spanish Armada in Japan. Manu Elvira (-9) must also be included in the list of candidates on Sunday after signing an outstanding 66-stroke card without errors. Even Alejandro del Rey (-8, round of 67) may have his chance, especially if he sets the pace ahead of the last matches with a good start. Let’s not forget that, beyond the possibility of victory, anything that takes a good booty of points will keep alive the options to get into the PGA Championship, the second Major of the year, through the three places that are distributed next week, when the Volvo China ends. These are very expensive places, let’s not fool ourselves, but they are still there for whoever wants and can grab them.
Up to 26 players go out within a margin of five strokes with the head and it is almost mandatory to highlight the presence of Keita Nakajima (-11) in the pack of favorites. The boy was a bit cold for the first two thirds of the course, almost detached from any option, but he finished in a big way, with four birdies in the last five holes. Only this project of a great world star would be missing, receiving the definitive blessing at the foot of the imposing Mount Fuji, sacred symbol of the Rising Sun Empire.
