Maximum excitement ahead of the final day of the Staysure Marbella Legends being held at the Marbella course of Aloha Golf, where tomorrow the first winner of the year of the Staysure Legends Tour will be decided. It will be a duel of legends where Miguel Ángel Jiménez will challenge Thomas Bjorn for the crown in Marbella. On Wednesday, they dined together to celebrate the great Dane’s birthday.
Aloha Golf will be buzzing tomorrow for the face-off between Miguel Ángel Jiménez and Thomas Bjorn, tied at 8 under par, two friends and many times rivals, who will compete for the first title of the season, also contending are the Swede Joakim Haeggman, 3rd at 2 strokes behind, and the Canary Islander Carlos Suneson, who has signed the best card of the day to climb and put himself in contention against the two titans of golf.
Miguel Ángel Jiménez scored 70 today overcoming the setback on hole 5 which he settled with a double bogey “I don’t know who played that hole, I think it wasn’t me”, and held onto the course to not let go of the lead heading into the final. “It went well, I managed to recover on the back 9 what didn’t go so well on the front, I didn’t hit the ball badly, but I had a slip on the 5th, but that happens, I hit a drive a bit more open than usual, hit some trees there, got it back onto the fairway, then had an 8 iron which I hit the big ball, barely touched the small ball, and then another frog jump, total I made 7 strokes there. And the other blunder on the course was the 3 putts I made on the 11th and everything else quite well, quite solid. The course is very good, the greens very good, firm, the ball rolls perfectly well, it’s in very good condition considering all the water that has fallen a few weeks ago and what it has endured these days. Here we are, sharing a match with Thomas on the Champions Tour, now on the Legends, we’ll have a solid battle. We are friends and colleagues. Winning is always nice, but winning at Aloha, where I am an honorary member, would be very special, with my people, my family, my friends… let’s go for it. I’ve been here for many years, I’m very excited to win in front of them, the pressure is already there which is what I like and that’s why I keep competing”.
Thomas Bjorn scored two eagles and three birdies for three bogeys, 68 strokes and a total of 8 under: “I played very well, started very well. Something strange happened on holes 7, 8, and 9 (three consecutive bogeys) but I recovered well and here we are, ready to fight. I’m delighted in Marbella, we don’t usually play in these conditions, the course is perfect. Tomorrow will be a great day to go out and play with Miguel, we are very good friends, we play a lot together in America, on Wednesday we went out to celebrate my birthday and tomorrow we will both go out to win, but there are many there with chances. It doesn’t matter how old you are, you work to be in this position to fight for the title and you’re not always there. So tomorrow I’ll go out to try to get a good result and enjoy it”.
Carlos Suneson has climbed to 4th position by signing the best card of the day, 67 strokes for a total of 5 under par: “It was a great round, I enjoyed it, the course is great, the weather too, everything went well. I made two bogeys but we all know how golf is, that until you finish the 18th you have nothing. I’m comfortable, with the age I have, I have the experience to put everything into perspective. I’m happy, it had been a while since we travelled together as a family and I’m taking my kids as caddies who are helping me a lot and, above all, we are enjoying it. Tomorrow I want to win, I have to win because if not, I’m not going to play this year, so I have nothing to lose. The two bogeys I made might help me a little not to have so much tension to not go out in the last group; if you go out in the leaders’ group with players like these, who play every week, and are very good, it’s a bit tougher, but if I’m a bit behind, it might work out well”.
José María Olazábal scored 70 today to place himself in 16th position with 2 under: “I leave with a little thorn because in the last three holes I left a couple of strokes. I had a very good putt on the 16th, which I hit very well, it touched the edge and didn’t go in, and then I made a slightly silly bogey on the 17th. On the 18th again, a great shot and the truth is that missing two inches to reach the hole, I saw it in the centre inside and in the end, it couldn’t go in, they stole my wallet and. Today I played a little better than yesterday, I would say, not to set off fireworks, but a little better. We keep going”.
As for the amateur competition, in the Legends Experience there is also maximum excitement with the Swiss Martin Kessler in first position followed by the Delegate of Sports of the Marbella Town Hall, Lisando Vieytes, and the British Rod Spinks. Tomorrow Sunday they will play their individual competition starting at 10.20 from the 10th tee.
