On Saturday night, you receive confirmation of the invitation. You quickly change your plans. You search high and low for flights to get from Shanghai to New Orleans. You spend more than 20 hours on planes. On Tuesday, you can only play 11 holes due to a thunderstorm, and on Wednesday, nothing because it’s the ProAm. You go out to play on Thursday and start with a bogey. In other words, a drama in a format like fourball.
For all these reasons, the scorecard of 63 strokes delivered by Alex del Rey and Ángel Ayora this Thursday in their debut at the Zurich Classic, a pairs tournament on the PGA Tour held at TPC Louisiana, is even more commendable. They went from strength to strength and saved the best for last. However, they quickly corrected that initial stumble with two consecutive birdies. Del Rey’s third shot on the 2nd hole was crucial to dispel any doubts. He left it less than a metre for birdie. Immediately after, both hit a great shot on the 3rd. Another birdie.
From there, the production slowed a bit. It was Ayora who kept the pair going with birdies on the 6th and 7th. A three-under after nine holes isn’t a disaster, but in the best ball format, it’s quite short. It’s like travelling in a Fiat 600 surrounded by Ferraris.
From the 10th, however, the dynamic changed. Del Rey and especially Ayora shifted into fifth and sixth gear. Alex made a sensational birdie on the 10th with another great wedge shot, and Ángel followed up with two more on the 12th and 13th. Two good putts. The end of the round bore Ayora’s signature with two shots to remember. On the 17th hole, a par 3, he hit a 6-iron against a strong wind. A great shot. He placed it just over two metres away and made the putt.
What happened on the 18th hole was an extraordinary cherry on top. The 20-year-old golfer from Marbella, the youngest in the tournament, hit a good drive down the fairway and left himself a second shot of about 215 metres to the flag. He hit a heavenly 9-wood and left it a metre and a half away. Nine under par for the pair and in thirteenth place.
Ayora and Del Rey are two strokes off third place and five off the lead held by Isaiah Salinda and Kevin Velo, who delivered a superlative round of 58 strokes. Tournament record. Salinda’s performance, with eight birdies and an eagle, was sensational. The Hojgaard brothers are one off the lead, sharing the round like good siblings with six birdies for Rasmus and seven for Nicolai. And Luke Donald is smiling. Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry, the defending champions, started with a scorecard of -8.
Ayora and Del Rey have earned the right to dream and aim high in this Zurich Classic, although the first task is to make the cut this Friday. The format is foursome, alternate shot, the most challenging modality, and the cut is very demanding. The top 33 teams and ties advance to the weekend. They can’t lose focus. Right now, the cut is at -8. If the expected wind blows tomorrow, even a par round could be a very good result.
