As in the best medieval books, the nobleman became a knight thanks to his accumulated merits, his capacity for endurance and overcoming unimaginable obstacles in extremis. Several centuries later, making his own all those conditions required to rise in rank, Angel Hidalgo is already a knight of the ACCIONA Open of Spain. presented by Madrid, a tournament endowed with a centennial history and a star-studded list of winners.
Angel Hidalgo from Malaga is already part of this distinguished club. He added merits, offered a resilience worthy of praise during the four rounds and overcame all imaginable obstacles in a final round that is already part, by uncertain, exciting and spectacular, of the best in the history of this rich tournament.
Angel Hidalgo perpetuated in the first position of the table during the first three rounds to face a dream final round. At his side, Jon Rahm and David Puig as partners in a fully Spanish stellar match in which sparks flew in each and every one of the 18 holes of the Club de Campo Villa de Madrid.
Fight, duel, confrontation, struggle… many nouns served to define a sporting spectacle of the highest level that was extended in the course two holes more than the supposedly established, two playoff holes of plethoric playoff, Angel Hidalgo versus Jon Rahm face to face in which the knight turned knight defeated the fiercest and most fearsome dragon.
The first 9 holes were the prelude to this apotheosis, a first stretch of the course where the continuous succession of alternatives made the bets change sides one hole after the other. A simple par, an untimely bogey or a convincing birdie abruptly altered the provisional classification.
It happened on the very first hole, where two birdies by Rahm and Puig generated a deep turnaround when combined with a bogey by Hidalgo. The advantage of 2 strokes stored by the player from Malaga during the previous 54 holes, evaporated in a heartbeat.
With the three Spaniards on a vertiginous roller coaster that generated different expectations, the situation that seemed to be defined by a point in favor of one of the contenders, vanished at breakneck speed just one hole later.
The best shot, during most of the first round, was David Puig from Barcelona, who became the provisional leader on the 5th hole. His solid and convincing game was full of birdies, a record that was difficult for Rahm and Hidalgo to reach in the first instance. The Basque, not very fluent, was 1 over par on hole 7 after forcing his second bogey, while Hidalgo, even more uncomfortable, compensated as he could 3 bogeys with the same number of hits before facing the 10th.
The uncertainty remained intact at that point of the course, triple tie before Puig, ball to the road on the 11th that led to bogey, was unhooked from the umpteenth shared leadership, the beginning of the particular ordeal of the Barcelona. His inspiration turned into doubts and his birdies into bogeys, four every two holes since the 11th hole before finishing with a birdie to regain a well-deserved third place shared among six players.
With Puig out of his depth, Jon Rahm, with three consecutive birdies between holes 8 and 10, was postulating to knock on the door of what would have been his fourth title in a Spanish Open. There were still 8 holes and many strokes to go, but the winning instinct of ‘Rahmbo’ was already hovering among all those who witnessed an unforgettable show despite the fact that his card, weighed down by a double bogey on the 13th hole, was a real merry-go-round.
The denouement, as in the great books of chivalry, was in the hands of the best of the epic, an electrifying mano a mano between Angel Hidalgo and Jon Rahm, a duel with swords that consumed an unforgettable final stretch of the tournament. Not in vain, Jon Rahm, unyielding, made a birdie on the 17th to get to a stroke won on the 18th hole.
The playoff was served, and it was in the third attempt when the accumulated merits, the capacity of resistance and the overcoming in extremis of unimaginable obstacles led Angel Hidalgo to become the new knight of the Open de España.
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