It has been a long afternoon of crossed fingers. Ángel Ayora (-5) handed in a card of 71 strokes in the second round of the Puerto Rico Open and had to wait until the last minute to know if he made the cut. An hour after handing in the card, he was in 52nd place. The top 65 and ties make the cut. He was in 63rd place, two spots from the edge. At the end of the first day, the line was at three under par. Very tight. All on the edge. Luckily, a happy ending, 61st position and cut made. Another one in the Puerto Rico Open, just like last year. Just on the number.
The truth is that the man from Málaga wouldn’t have been in this predicament if he had managed the par 5s a bit better. They have been his real burden. The score after two days is +1, with a double bogey and a bogey, both on the 9th hole, and two birdies. The balance is meagre, we could almost call it Pyrrhic.
The numbers are devastating. The worst score on the par 5s among those in the top 10 with the round finished is the three under par of Jeremy Paul (-11), a four-stroke difference. With those four strokes, Ayora would be in 16th place. And we’re talking about the worst record in the entire top 10. The usual score has been between five and six under, and then there’s Danny Walker who takes the cake with a score of ten under par. Just on the par 5s, he is eleven strokes ahead of Ángel… In the standings, he is six ahead.
There’s more. The average score of all the players in the tournament at the time the Spaniard handed in his card in this second round was two under par. Ángel is losing, therefore, three strokes just on the long holes. Too much of an advantage to the rest. Especially if we also consider that the four par fives on the Puerto Rican course are the easiest holes on the course.
The numbers are even more uncomfortable to digest if we consider that Ayora has more than enough distance to reach them in two practically all of them. However, the reality is that he hasn’t been comfortable with the driver in recent weeks, he has tried several different heads, and that has given him some insecurity. On the 9th hole, for example, where he has a cumulative +3, he has sent the ball into the water twice off the tee. To rub salt into the wound, today it was his last hole, leaving him in doubt until the last moment.
Beyond Ayora’s successful cut, the leader of the Puerto Rico Open is Rasmus Neergaard Petersen (-15). The Dane continues to show very powerful things. It’s the first tournament of his career on the PGA Tour and he can already say he is the sole leader with 36 holes to go. Tremendous. Davis Riley (-14) is second, while Austin Cook (-13) is third. The top 10 closes at -11, Ayora is six strokes behind, far, but not impossible with 36 holes ahead. If he manages to commit to the driver, he can still say a lot.
