Hoyo 17 del Hills course, Infinitum Golf. Short par 4. The bravest and strongest hitters can aim for the green. At least, they can try. Borja Virto is one of them. He’s going all out. The shot is very good, but it ends up in the rough. No worries. They’ve seen it bounce. It’s there. They arrive at the area and don’t find it at first glance. Virto, as he always does, starts his stopwatch. He has three minutes to search. If it doesn’t appear, he has to go back to the green to hit the third shot. They are convinced they will find it, but the seconds keep ticking and the white sphere is elusive… Heart rates rise. Borja and the other Borja, Martín, a professional who caddied for him last week in the second stage and is repeating in the Final, intensify the search. “It has to be here,” they tell each other. But it doesn’t appear. Time is running out…
Suddenly, Ernest, the caddie of Wouter de Vries, a playing partner, notices the situation and quickly joins the search expedition. He sends a message of calm. He wasn’t on the tee, but at the ball’s landing, and assures that he saw it bounce, so it shouldn’t be embedded. Ernest accurately locates the area, and at two minutes and 37 seconds, they find the ball. “Only 23 seconds left to complete the three regulatory minutes,” confirms Virto. “It took more than five minutes for my heart rate to return to normal,” a huge scare.
Olazábal: bolsa al hombro, pantalón corto y de caddie en la Final de la Escuela
Hoyo 16 del Lakes course, Infinitum Golf. Par 5. A good birdie opportunity, although it requires two good hits. Luis Masaveu easily reaches it. The Madrid native hits a good, powerful drive over the bunker, but his ball opens a bit too much and ends up in the rough. It’s not even a very long rough. No worries. Everyone has seen the ball. It has to be there. All members of the group search for it, without exception, but the three minutes pass and the ball doesn’t appear. They can’t believe it. Luis has to return to the tee to hit his third shot and ends up with a double bogey. A complete halt.
These are two sides of the same coin. One turned out heads, the other tails. Virto started with -6 in the Lakes, up there, and Masaveu signed a +2 that doesn’t take him out of the fight, not at all, but it does reduce his margin for error. Once again, that thin line in golf.
In any case, the start of the Final of the DP World Tour School has been very good for the Armada from a collective point of view. Virto and Sebas García Rodríguez are in the top 10 with a score of -6 in the Lakes, while Albert Boneta has scored -5 on the same course. The young Catalan continues to shine, dazzling in every round. These three would currently be in card positions, something that if maintained until the sixth day would be a tremendous success for Spanish golf. The top 20 and ties get it, and that cut is currently at -5.
A good start also for Gonzalo Fernández Castaño (-3) and Joseba Torres (-2), both in the Lakes. They are not in card positions, but they are within reach. The Madrid native has signed a very good round of golf, with many birdies. The one he made on the 18th, after a bad second shot, was exceptional.
Similarly, under par are Adri Arnaus (-1), who played the Hills, and Santi Tarrio (-1), in the Lakes. However, this result is already outside the cut that will occur after the fourth day with the top 65 and ties. From here, we could say there’s not much more room for error, like the aforementioned start of Luis Masaveu, with +2 in the Lakes.
This Saturday, in the second round, Virto and Arnaus will play the Lakes, while the other four will perform in the Hills.
Beyond the Spaniards, the lead is held by Frenchman Felix Mory (-10), who has done a number on the Lakes (of course, a Frenchman), followed by Lucas Nemecz (-9), also in the Lakes. Two shots behind are Benjamin Rusch, the best in the Hills, and Callan Barrow, in the Lakes. The difficulty of both courses has been similar. The greens are still somewhat receptive due to the rain that has fallen in recent days, hence the low scores, but from today onwards, both courses will increase in difficulty, as the weather forecast is that it will not rain for the rest of the tournament.
