18th green in the early morning Saturday light, all ready for action |
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Angel Hidalgo leader of the third day of the Andalucia Masters © Real Club Valderrama |
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Adrián Otaegui (-16) was the star of the third day of the Andalucía Masters.
Beautiful clear blue sky no wind day at Real Club Valderrama, Sotogrande. As the first golfers were teeing off it was noticeably fresher than previous mornings and a heavy dew lay overnight, by mid-day it was 25C and felt exceptionally warm.
Following yesterday’s cut at three over par (second tightest in the tournament) the 126 golfers are now 66 and are playing today and tomorrow in 22 groups of three. All eyes were on the three overnight (-9) leaders when they teed off together at 12.50 hrs; Adrian Otaegui (Spain), Min Woo Lee (Australia) and Angel Hidalgo (Spain).
The three leaders who were followed round by a large group of spectators were pretty close together at first. Adrian Otaegui started to pull ahead from the forth hole with a run of three birdies and one bogey. At the half way point Adrian was four strokes in the lead. During the second half Adrian increased the lead with a hat trick of birdies on the last three holes finishing the day on seven under and -16 overall. Angel and Lee finished almost where they started the day with -9 and -8 overall. The disrupter came on the back nine in the form of Sweden's Joakim Lagergren. He had been four strokes behind in fourth place overnight. This afternoon with four birdies in a row starting on the 11th and a crowd pleasing eagle on the 18th. Joakin finished in second place with -10 overall.
By 13.30 hrs the first group was home. Andrew Wilson (UK) was four under par today (-1 overall) with birdies on 1st, 4th, 5th, 11th, 15th and 17th but bogey on 14th. With him was Angel Ayora the Amateur invitation from La Cañada Club in Sotogrande who magnificently made the cut and scored three over par today and +6 overall. Jamie Donaldson (Wales) came home four under today and -2 overall with birdies on 1st, 4th, 5th and 11th. Marcus Kinault (Sweden) started well with an eagle on the first but two birdies and two bogeys later came home two under today and -1 overall.
Adrián Otaegui (-16) was the star of the third day of the Andalucía Masters. The player from San Sebastian signed a card of 64 strokes (-7), which overall after three days is 16 under par. This is a six shot lead over Angel Hidalgo and the Swedish Joakim Lagergren on ten under par.
"On other courses you have many ways to play the holes and make birdies; not at Valderrama. Only if you are well placed on the fairway can you have a good shot at the flag. Today I felt very comfortable, the ball was going where I wanted it to," Adrian explained.
The possibility of winning at Valderrama is a dream for the 27 year old, but he does not want to vary the strategy that has put him in this position today.
"Tomorrow will be like any other day, I'll go hole by hole and keep doing the same work I've been doing all week," he said.
Otaegui will share the final match tomorrow with Angel Hidalgo, so they will have the added bonus of support from the fans. "The fans have been spectacular, I hope they come tomorrow to cheer us on," he said.
The biggest ovation from the fans was actually for Ángel Hidalgo, who achieved a masterful recovery on the ninth hole after his second shot hit a tree and ended up in the fairway of hole one.
"The third shot was very difficult, I was lucky that the window was right at the height where I was going to hit the shot, about 172 metres, and when I heard the crowd shouting, I relaxed and thought, let's make 5. Once on the green, I saw that I just had to worry about the first two feet of the putt which was the pre-green and when I saw it go out and into the hole, I don't even know what I did, it was incredible". Said Ángel
"Tomorrow I want to go out like any other day and beat the field. If I manage to do that, the objective will be achieved and if I can make a low round and Adrián gives us an option, we'll see, but the objective is to secure the card". Said Angel.
The eighth edition of the Andalucía Masters 2022 is being played in unusually favourable playing conditions and this is reflected in the results. The -16 with which Adrián Otaegui finished the third day of the Andalucía Masters is the equal lowest score after 54 holes in any tournament at Real Club Valderrama, tied with Mark James in 1988. Tomorrow Adrian could equal or surpass the -18 with which James finished in 1988 - the lowest four-round score at Valderrama.
After Jon Rahm's victory last week at the Spanish Open and with Adrián Otaegui starting Sunday with a six-shot lead, and with second place is Ángel Hidalgo, who is facing the challenge of achieving his first victory. Is possible that the winner of the Andalucia Masters 2022 will be the 200th victory achieved by a Spanish player on the 51 years of the DP World Tour / PGA European Tour.
Valderrama often punishes some illustrious players in each edition leaving them out of the cut, as has happened this year with Matt Fitzpatrick.
On the other hand, there are players who are almost permanent fixtures of the weekend. Denmark's Soren Kjeldsen, for example, is a real specialist on the Valderrama course, as he has made every cut at the Andalucía Masters and was second in the 2010 edition. In the six editions of the Volvo Masters in which he has participated, he has finished in the top 25 on five occasions, with victory in 2008 and second place in 2007. In the 2016 Open de España, held in Valderrama Soren finished fourth.
Dutchman Joost Luiten only missed the cut in the 2011 edition and has excellent results including second place in 2017 and fifth in 2010.
Pablo Larrazábal has made seven out of eight cuts and his best result was twelfth in 2017. Like Alejandro Cañizares from Barcelona has only missed one cut, the one in this edition, and his best result is seventh place in 2011.
On Sunday the first golfers match tees off at 08.49 with David Horsey (England), Thomas Detry (Belgium) and Amateur Angel Ayora. Second match 11 minutes later includes Soren Kjeldsen (Denmark). Penultimate match at 12.39 includes Min Woo Lee (Australia), Robert Macintyre (Scotland) and Jordan Smith (England). The last match tees off form the first at 12.50 and comprises Angel Hidalgo (Spain), Adrian Otaegui (Spain) and Joakim Lagergren (Sweden)