– Aldrich Potgieter (-20) has maintained the lead at the Mexico Open at VidantaWorld after carding a 67 in the third round, but his finish leaves things on edge and raises some doubts about the very young South African player, who is seeking his first victory on the PGA Tour after earning his playing rights last year through the Korn Ferry Tour and having already had a good opportunity in the past Farmers, where he went into the final round with a chance of winning but ended up signing a 78.
– Potgieter struggled in the final stretch at Vidanta Vallarta, missing too many shots, almost always to the right. The South African saved a difficult situation on the 16th hole after a poor tee shot, then managed a good bogey on the 17th, a par 3, and also finished with a par on the 18th, a par 5, with some difficulty. Brian Campbell (-19) and Stephan Jaeger (-17) emerge as the other two main contenders after posting scores of 64 and 66 respectively, and it remains to be seen if the greater experience of the German (Campbell is also, as they say, a newcomer to the circuit and has never won) will ultimately prevail.
– Third round for José Luis Ballester (-6) at the Mexico Open At VidantaWorld and third card of 69 he delivers. Little or nothing, therefore, can the young Spanish amateur reproach himself, although it is a tournament, and a course, this Vidanta Vallarta, where more explosive scores are needed to be at the top.
In general, Ballester has maintained a good level of play throughout the three rounds, including today, but with a touch of inconsistency that has prevented him from competing for higher goals. Josele has already accumulated seventeen birdies, a respectable figure, even on an apparently easy course, and not far off or even surpassing some players comfortably in the top ten of the tournament. His putting has been stable, he has hit a good handful of excellent shots each day, but he has paid a high price for almost every mistake, and his rounds have always been a bit erratic, never quite managing to grab and maintain a good scoring rhythm. For instance, the tournament leader, Potgieter, despite today’s final struggles, has only made three bogeys in 54 holes. Campbell and Jaeger, the next on the leaderboard, only four. That has been the big difference. It could be noted that the Spanish player’s recovery statistic around the green is not very impressive at the moment (6/17)
– Ballester had closed his first nine (having started on the 10th hole) with a two-under total, but then made two bogeys on the 1st and 2nd holes after sending his tee shot into a fairway bunker and, to top it off, finding a very bad position in the sand, with no possibility of reaching the green or even making much distance. As you can see, luck hasn’t been on his side at crucial moments when he needed to make a comeback.
– Surely the week is feeling short for the player from Castellón, and he would give anything for a bigger margin to make a comeback, but he still has one last and attractive opportunity tomorrow, Sunday, to beat the course decisively and give his ranking a good boost, starting six shots off the top ten, a target that currently seems very unlikely to reach, and three off the top 25. In any case, the week has been, and is being, very positive for Ballester, who for the first time will complete all four rounds in a professional tournament. If he manages to minimise mistakes tomorrow or neutralise their negative impact on the score, he could still even achieve an excellent final ranking, beyond mere window dressing.
