There was no miracle on the day of the movement at the Acciona Open in Spain and we will have to wait for something extraordinary, almost biblical, for Jon Rahm can lift his fourth trophy in Madrid.
The Spaniard finished the day with 67 strokes (-4), to place himself at -7, nine behind the tournament leader, the Frenchman. Matthew Pavon (-16), which continues to resist at the Villa de Madrid Country Club with a firm step. Pavon will start on Sunday with a two-stroke advantage over the Englishman Nathan Kendiy. The Frenchman, son of a footballer who played for Betis, will seek his first victory in the DP World Tour.
Rahm cannot be blamed for not having tried by all means: the promising initial birdie left the thousands of spectators with honey on their lips. On Saturday the one from Barrika was not right tee a greenbut his putter he performed much better and it was reflected in his score of 67 strokes. One of the negative points of his day was the painful bogey in what had been his talisman hole until now, the par 5 14th hole. He had never signed a worse result than eagle o birdie in this hole throughout his career. “I went all out because I had nothing to lose and it didn’t turn out well. I didn’t know that tree could come into play,” Jon explained at the end. He hit three trees in a row and yet, he still had a good par option, which he couldn’t convert.
Alfredo GarcÃa Heredia (-12) has become the best Spaniard in the tournament. The Asturian signed a round with seven birdies and four bogeys that leave him with options to fight for the win and he will start in the penultimate game of the day at 12.54 with the French Mike Lorenzo Vera and Romain Langasque who like him, finished with -12. Alfredo will start four strokes behind the leader, although beyond the goal of victory, Alfredo fights a tense battle to finish among the best 116 of the year and retain the DP World Tour card for next season. At the moment, GarcÃa Heredia is in 134th place in the Race to Dubai. A place among the top five in the tournament on Sunday could help the Gijon native secure another year in the European elite. “I’m happy, because I saved the day after not being so comfortable on the course and having missed shots in places that were not ideal. I finished birdie-birdie, and that allows me to be up there,” responded GarcÃa Heredia, before assessing his chances of victory: “This year I come out with more chances of victory than last year. But I complete the lap I did then (64). I don’t know if it would be enough for me to win, but I’m sure it would be enough to leave happy at least.” home. It will be very nice to play again in the last games,” he concluded.
Beyond Alfredo and Rahm, there is a bunch of Spanish players who will try to save the Spanish honor that has been winning without pause in the tournament since 2018. They could have a chance to make history on Sunday Gonzalo Fernández Castañoseventh with -11 and Alejandro del Rey, Pablo Larrazábal and Adrián Otaegui, that with -9 and seven hits from the French player they will try everything to try to achieve victory.