If the Valspar Championship applied the ten-stroke cut rule with the lead, no less than 123 players would have made it into the weekend. It’s been a while since we’ve seen such a tight leaderboard on the PGA Tour. Players who are only seven strokes away from the first place have gone home. The second day of the tournament in Tampa leaves us with fourteen golfers separated by one stroke, five tied at the top and twenty within a margin of just three strokes, among them Jorge Campillo (-3).
Because yes, because the golfer from Norba has formally presented his candidacy for victory at the Valspar today. It is true that almost anyone who has made the cut has more than enough reasons to feel in the fight to win, but Campillo perhaps more forcefully than others because he is only three strokes from the lead and his golf from the tee continues to be outstanding.
The Extremaduran has handed in this Friday a scorecard of 68 strokes extraordinarily valuable. The playing conditions have been very tough. From his 3rd hole the wind has blown in gusts and with great intensity. In his last three holes it has been almost crazy. Yes, right in the famous snake pit, one of the most difficult stretches in world golf. “It reminded me of the Scottish Open or the Irish Open, but with heat,” Jorge assured Ten Golf as soon as he finished.
Campillo started his second day at the Valspar in the best possible way. Eagle on the hole after a great drive and a second superb shot two and a half meters from the flag. From there, he saved a great par on hole 3, the second most difficult on the course, sinking a four-meter putt, and made bogey on the 4th, after missing the green on the wrong side.
It was a day to grit your teeth and have a lot of patience. That’s what Jorge did. He hit many fairways and got into few problems. When he had to, like on the 3rd or 12th, he recovered wonderfully, and pulled off three very good birdies on holes 7, 11 and 14, the latter sinking a great putt of almost ten meters.
He got to -4, just one stroke off the top 10, although he still had the hardest part left, holes 16, 17 and 18, at the time when the wind was blowing the most. On the 16th it came from the right on the tee and against on the shot to the green. It was one of the shots of the day, almost 160 meters from the hole. He made par without suffering too much. On the 17th he had the wind in his favor and unleashed a fabulous iron five meters from the hole. Two pars in two holes. A pity what happened on the 18th, with the wind blowing hard from the left. He missed the drive to the left, to the bunker and his second shot, which was not good, did not get the help of the wind and stayed on the left. He made bogey after missing a putt of just over two meters.
Be that as it may, it was probably the most difficult golf day of the year, in terms of conditions, on the PGA Tour and Campillo has delivered a result only one stroke above the best of the day. It is a demonstration of how far his ability can go. One more step to finish building a steel confidence. He has 36 holes ahead and only three strokes with the head. He has created a nice opportunity without deploying his best golf and putting on the table, yes, tons of grit.
The leaders with -6 are Kevin Streelman, Chandler Phillips, senior Stewart Cink, Brendon Todd and Mackenzie Hughes. One stroke behind are Peter Malnati, Lucas Glover, Justin Thomas, Seamus Power, Scott Stallings, Michael Kim, Keith Mitchell, Aaron Baddeley and Rico Hoey. By the way, the round could not be completed due to lack of light, Campillo finished almost in the dark.
Among the players who missed the cut are Jordan Spieth, Keegan Bradley, Sam Burns, Francesco Molinari, Brian Harman, Sepp Straka, Sungjae Im, Tony Finau, Thorbjorn Olesen, Ryan Fox, Gary Woodland or Victor Perez. Quite something.
