Ten Spaniards are competing this week in the Volvo China Open and probably none of them are attending with the primary objective of securing a place for the PGA Championship, the second Major of the year, a possibility that is still open, as the top three from the Asian Swing of the European circuit, which precisely ends this week in China, will get it.
Let’s see, the matter is very complicated. All of them, the ten, would need to win the tournament to give themselves an option. And from this premise, some would have it better than others. Let’s go in parts.
– Iván Cantero, eighth in the Asian Swing ranking, is the best placed and basically needs two things to happen. The first: win the tournament. The second: that Kiradeh Aphibarnrat does not finish second alone. There is no need to think more about this case.
– With Alejandro del Rey, sixteenth in that ranking, practically the same thing happens, with a nuance: he needs to win and that Aphibarnrat finishes second tied with two other players or worse.
– Then there are the cases of Adrián Otaegui, Manu Elvira, Adri Arnaus and Ángel Hidalgo. More variables come into play in their accounts, but let’s stick with these general ideas: they need to win, of course, and also that Jesper Svensson does not get up there (Otaegui, who has scored the most, would need the Swede to finish twelfth or worse; and Hidalgo, who has scored the least, would need him to finish outside the top 40 of the tournament); that Aphibarnrat finishes in fifth position or worse; and that Bairstow and Veerman do not finish second.
– Finally, there are the cases of the four Spaniards who have not yet scored anything and who are playing in China: Pablo Larrazábal, Nacho Elvira, Santi Tarrio and Rafa Cabrera Bello. Well… There are no cases. Even winning the tournament they could not, as they would score 500 points, the same as the third in the ranking, Jesper Svensson. They would not even surpass him if the Swede missed the cut, as in case of a tie the player with the best ranking in the Race to Dubai would prevail once the tournament is over, and none of them can surpass Svensson in this ranking, not even by winning.
– However, Pablo Larrazábal could still get into the PGA Championship by another route: if he wins the tournament he would most likely get into the top 100 in the world and receive the invitation.
