Excitement was expected this week at Valle Romano Golf & Resort and we are showing signs that it is being so with an exceptional guest: the westerly wind. The intensity with which it blew throughout the day on the opening day greatly conditioned the results of the 165 participants in this edition of the Andalucía Costa del Sol Match Play 9. A good example of adaptation to these difficult wind conditions has been Carlos del Moral. The Valencian player was able to bring out his best version with gusts close to 35 km / h and sign a first round of 68 strokes that put him in sixth place in the leaderboard, just one stroke behind the head of the tournament, formed by Coussaud, Forsstrom, Mohr, Whitnell and Zunic.
Carlos del Moral, Challenge Tour Player: “I played very well and that despite starting with a not very good result on the first hole. Today there was a lot of wind in the afternoon and I managed to keep calm during the whole round, even making a magnificent birdie on the 9th hole. Valle Romano Golf & Resort is a course that demands a lot from you and where you have to place the ball very well from the tee and with wind everything becomes very difficult. The greens are very hard and rolling very well and are perfect. Tomorrow we have to keep trying to give the course a face because this course either you play like this or we can make a mess, so we have to play like today.”
Jacobo Pastor had a great second half of the day. The player from Madrid was able to withstand the onslaught of the westerly wind until the end and save a great par on the 16th hole after sending his ball into the bushes and making a very solid recovery to sign the par on that hole. A clear lesson on how to plan a good strategy from the tee that meant a score of 69 strokes.
Jacobo Pastor, Challenge Tour Player: “Today was a day with a lot of wind and on top of that, with a delayed start, it was a very long day. The wind has been very decisive today, on the third hole the ball moved and with the new ruler I had to replace it. With so much intensity at almost no time it helped to have the wind in your favor, it has been a day in which you had to be patient. Valle Romano Golf & Resort is a very interesting course where you have to know how to place the ball in the right place or you can get a lot of penalties as it happened to my starting partner. I’ll keep the good puts I managed to sink to save pars and, above all, with the recovery on the 16th hole to save a great par after having to drop it. Tomorrow, Friday, we have to keep fighting to maintain this good position and enter the match play days of the weekend on the right foot.”
And, with the clear objective of entering the top 64 that give access to the match play days of the weekend between eyebrow and eyebrow, the words patience and tenacity have been widely used among professionals. A clear example of this perseverance is Sebastián García Rodríguez. The player from Madrid, who has had a great season with several victories in the Alps Tour and a third place in the Challenge of Spain, signed a first card of 70 strokes that places him in the top 25 of the tournament, three strokes off the lead.
Sebastian García Rodríguez, Professional Player: “I am very happy with my game today although if I am honest I feel I could have played less strokes. It has been a very tough day because of the wind and I had to be very solid and focused to try to achieve a good result here at Valle Romano Golf & Resort. The goal is clearly to be among the top 64 after tomorrow but the better we are within that cut will be more beneficial for the matches so we will have to keep fighting tomorrow, Friday.”
As for the Andalusians, the best classified so far in this Andalucía Costa del Sol Match Play 9 is Ángel Hidalgo from Malaga with a result of two strokes over par of the course. The Costa del Sol player is provisionally within the cut set at 64 players who will play in match play format the last two days at Valle Romano Golf & Resort.
At the moment and provisionally the cut of 64 players who would go on to play the elimination rounds in match play of the weekend is established in a cumulative result of two strokes over par of the course at Valle Romano Golf & Resort. It should be noted that the number of players with the same result is high and, a priori, a possible playoff is expected to reach the final rounds of the Andalucía Costa del Sol Match Play 9. The second day of this tournament will begin at 07:30 in the morning and promises to be a day full of emotions.
The Andalucía Match Play 9 is possible thanks to the joint collaboration of Turismo Costa del Sol, the Royal Spanish Golf Federation and the Royal Andalusian Golf Federation. The Royal Andalusian Golf Federation is the promoter of the tournament organized by JGolf18.0. It also has the collaboration of the Estepona City Council, Consejo Superior de Deportes, Challenge Tour, La Liga 4Sports, Valle Romano Golf & Resort, Ona Hotels (Official Hotel), Ping, Titleist, Callaway, Ogio, Holiday Golf, Cobra Puma Golf, Eulen Golf, Solán de Cabras (official water), Bodegas Barbadillo (Official Wine) and Kyocera (official printing services).
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