The Spaniard Samuel Espinosa (PAR) has narrowly missed the cut at the Webex Players Series Perth hosted by Minjee Lee & Min Woo Lee, the first tournament of the year counting towards the world ranking, part of the PGA Tour of Australasia and held at the Royal Fremantle Golf Club in Australia. The Cantabrian golfer delivered another round of 72 strokes on the Australian course this Friday, missing the weekend play by just one stroke. The top 50 and ties made the cut, which was ultimately set at -1 with a total of 54 players.
Espinosa faced a challenging task today. He needed to play under par no matter what, under more difficult playing conditions, with the wind being a major factor during much of his round. The worst came in the first nine holes (he started on the 10th). That’s when the wind blew the hardest. Samuel couldn’t make any birdies and suffered two consecutive bogeys on holes 15 and 16, exactly the same ones where he stumbled yesterday. Indeed, these two holes cost him the cut, with a +4 score over two days.
In any case, although the path became very steep with those two mistakes, Samuel showed determination. At no point did he give up and he came back with a splendid series of three birdies on holes 2, 5, and 6. In this way, he was provisionally inside the cut. However, a final bogey on hole 8, the penultimate of his day, a par 3, left him out.
“It was quite disappointing, to be honest. It’s frustrating mainly because I didn’t play badly, but the result wasn’t what it should have been. In my first nine holes, I missed four birdie chances from less than three metres. I was making good putts, but they just grazed the hole and didn’t go in. It was a shame. The three birdies on the back nine weren’t with great putts either, but because I left them close. On the par 4, I putted for eagle,” explains the golfer trained in Chattanooga to Ten Golf.
La increíble y kafkiana historia de un español rumbo a Australia
Undoubtedly, the two key moments today were on holes 15, the first bogey of the day, and 8, the bogey that left him out of the cut. Both came in very similar circumstances. “On 15, there was a lot of tailwind, with a downhill and fast-receiving green, and I tried to hit a wedge with a lot of spin to control it. I hit it a bit high, and it died. It hit the lake wall and bounced back into the water. Then I made a good bogey. On 8, it was similar. I thought I needed the birdie to make the cut, that -2 would be necessary, and I was more aggressive than I should have been. Again with a tailwind, I hit a wedge with the same idea, to give it a lot of spin, but I hit it a bit high, it hit right on the bunker slope and ended up in a bad spot. Unplayable. I got it out to three metres, and the putt didn’t go in,” he laments.
In any case, there’s nothing left but to wipe the slate clean and start anew. Next week, he has another opportunity at the Vic Open. “Now it’s time to rest and, above all, try to fully recover from the cold I caught on the way here and go all out in the next tournament,” he concludes.
The tournament leader with 36 holes to go is Connor McKinney (-13), with a one-stroke lead over Abbie Teasdale (-12), the top female golfer in the standings. The Englishman Andrew Johnston (-11), a major draw of the tournament, is in third place. ‘Beef’, on the attack.
