Akshay Bhatia (-11) has pulled ahead on the second day of the Valero Texas Open. The young player of Indian origin has increased his lead in the standings at the TPC San Antonio after delivering a card of 70 strokes. He started this Friday with a three-stroke lead and at the time of handing in his card he already had five over Brendon Todd (-6) Denny McCarthy (-6) and Russell Henley (-6). It is not unusual to see top iron players on the leaderboard. It is a course predominantly for second shots. McCarthy’s main strength is the putter, although today it was not the best. He left up to four options of less than three and a half meters on the course.
Much credit to Bhatia’s round after the brutal nine under par he signed on Thursday. Yesterday he broke the bank and today he has been able to continue. It is not easy. Again, he has shown himself to be very solid from tee to green, the key on this Texan course.
Up there appear some names that are on many lists of candidates for victory at the Augusta Masters. We refer, of course, to Rory McIlroy (-5), fifth place alone, with a round today of 70 strokes. Rory has been brilliant from the tee, although his best facet has been the short game. He has masterfully brought forward five of six recoveries, an excellent test before facing Augusta.
Special mention deserves the round of Jordan Spieth (-3). The Dallas golfer was virtually out of the cut this Thursday with three holes to finish his first round, however, a seven-under par in the following eight holes, the last three of yesterday, with a hole in one included, and the first five of today (three consecutive birdies from 10 to 12 and one more on 14) not only allowed him to pass the cut comfortably, but also put him in the fight for everything, with the clear permission of the Bhatia cyclone. In the noble area, relevant names such as Tommy Fleetwood (-4), Webb Simpson (-4) or Thorbjorn Olesen (-3) have already been placed.
On the other hand, Jorge Campillo (+4) has had a day to forget. From start to finish. He made 78 strokes and was left out of the cut. The round started very twisted with a double bogey on 1, missing a one-meter putt for bogey, and one more bogey on 2. Suddenly, he went from looking at the top of the leaderboard to having to worry about the cut.
Nothing went right for the Extremaduran. Bad day from the tee, bad day in the shots to green and very poor also on the greens. Everything backwards. He made three birdies, but the problem was that he made a lot of mistakes. It is the second consecutive cut he misses, something that has not happened in his career for three years, a demonstration of the sensational trajectory of the Extremaduran in recent times.
The cut finally closed at +1 and players like Hisatsune, Villegas, Kuchar, Fowler, Horsche, Fox, Harrington or Tom Kim, who is not getting out of the crisis he has been going through since the beginning of 2024, were left out.
