In his first tournament as a full member of the PGA Tour, the Spaniard Jorge Campillo (-5) has comfortably made the cut at the Mexico Open at Vidanta and is in a position to fight for his first major result in the United States tour over the weekend. Something that would have been much easier had he been a little more accurate with the short putts this Friday, an area of the game where he missed the chance to end the day in a top 10 where he was installed three holes from closing his round.
The Extremaduran, playing much better than yesterday from tee to green (10 fairways out of 13 and 11 greens in regulation) and successfully dealing with the annoying wind that made its presence felt at Vidanta Vallarta, closed his first nine holes with two birdies, on the par fours at 4 and 7, and a single bogey, on the par four at 8, missing a putt of a couple of metres. With another great birdie on the par three at 13, sinking an impressive putt from eight metres, Campillo stormed the top 10 places in the standings where he had already been provisionally during the first round, playing in the morning shift. But when he sighted the ‘finish line’, things got complicated for him…
A perfect chip 💯@TonyFinauGolf holes it for eagle on No. 12. pic.twitter.com/oU3m7nh8He
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 23, 2024
A missed putt of a metre and a half on the 16th meant his second bogey of the day. And almost without time to assimilate it, on the delicate par three at 17, which flies over a lake, he made his third mistake of this second day of competition, forgiving a par putt of just under two metres due to the lack of light, which made it difficult to read. Fortunately, and despite missing the fairway on the par five at 18, Jorge used his ‘Spanish hands’ to hit a monumental hybrid, taking his ball to the vicinity of the green (he was close to crowning) to close his round with his fourth birdie of the day, which puts him tied for 27th place, just one stroke off the top 10.
“I played better than yesterday, but the putt was weak,” Campillo admitted to Ten-Golf as soon as he finished his round. A card of 70 strokes, one under par, puts him six off a lead shared by Englishman Matt Wallace (-11), Finn Sami Valimaki (-11), Mexican Álvaro Ortiz (-11) and American Jake Knapp (-11). South African Erik van Rooyen (-10), first after the initial 18 holes, had to settle today with a round of 69 strokes, but is still in the fight. While the equality behind is total, with almost 25 players within just five strokes. Among them, Tony Finau (-6), who is defending the title he won last year at this same event. Or the Europeans Stephan Jaeger (-6), Henrik Norlander (-6) or Thorbjorn Olesen (-6).
Hole-in-one for @RafaCamposGolf ‼️
He cards a 1️⃣ at the 226-yard par-3 17th @MexicoOpenGolf.
(Presented by @CocaCola) pic.twitter.com/D1l7PgcKvV
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 23, 2024
The shot of the day was for Rafael Campos (-5), with a tremendous hole in one at the feared 17. And from tomorrow, a weekend to dream for the good Campillo, the first of his newly inaugurated stage as a player of the PGA Tour.
