Colorful and multinational classification of the Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters, led by the English Laurie Canter with -7 in the cumulative and with Sebastián García Rodríguez as the best Spaniard sharing a crowded tenth place. Up to ten countries are represented among the top fifteen in a tournament that will crown a new champion at the Real Club Valderrama.
With the wind giving some respite, a handful of golfers managed to find the key, at least temporarily, of the Sotogrande course, led by a Canter who added a 67 to his 65 yesterday to take off from his compatriot Matt Fitzpatrick, Ryder player and the only representative of the a priori stellar match of the championship that still has a chance of victory after the departure of Jon Rahm and the relegation of Rafa Cabrera Bello.
The Englishman is also the only player in the top eight who has not yet graduated from the European Tour with a victory, and on the decisive day he will face the demands of the Valderrama course and the strength of his rivals. To do so, he will need an essential weapon: calm.
“It’s hard for me to be so calm, although I try my best to stay as balanced as I can. It helps on a pitch like this. Sometimes we throw the result out the window and it’s how we feel. The course poses different challenges and you can’t get obsessed if things go wrong for you,” Canter explained at the end of his comeback.
The winner of the 2011 King’s Cup will have to deal with a motley contingent led by his compatriot Matt Fitzpatrick, three strokes behind Canter, and the American David Lipsky, author of a spectacular 64. Behind, in fourth place, Austrian Bernd Wiesberger, another Ryder star, Australian Min Woo Lee, winner of the last Scottish Open, Italian Renato Paratore, Frenchman Romain Langasque, also winner of the King’s Cup and Swede Sebastian Soderberg.
The main Spanish players are Sebastián García Rodríguez from Madrid (par for the course), who had a stellar start last week at the Acciona Open de España, and Alejandro Cañizares from Malaga with +1, followed by Pablo Larrazábal and Rafa Cabrera Bello with +2.
“I have always liked this course because it is grateful. If you hit the ball well, it will respond to you and I refer to the facts, as I have been hitting them very well for three days,” explained García Rodríguez. “Putting was my best weapon today, but at Valderrama you need all fourteen clubs.
In any case, the Real Club Valderrama will once again act as the inevitable sieve on the final day of an Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters that has had a remarkable attendance despite not having its main star and reference, world number one Jon Rahm, since Friday.
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INSIDE THE ROPES
Spectacle at Valderrama
The third day of the Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters has given spectacular moments to the thousands of fans who have followed the tournament, at the legendary San Roque course.
One of them was Austrian Bernd Wiesberger’s eagle on hole 1, a 365-meter par 4 that he completed in two strokes. The European Ryder Cup team player left the tee shot 90 meters from the flag and managed to hit it with the wedge.
Valderrama and Robert Rock’s visor: a unique connection
Robert Rock is one of the few players in the world who plays without a cap or visor, something that has generated a lot of comments throughout his career. He doesn’t do it for lack of interested brands and it is known that he turned down offers of around $150,000 per year when he was among the top 60 in the world. His decision is a matter of comfort: “I have a lot of hair and it’s quite dense, and caps make me hot and uncomfortable,” he said a few years ago.
But that changed today, when he showed up on the 1st tee with a visor bearing the Real Club Valderrama logo, in deference to a course he loves and where he always feels very much at home. A gesture that honors the English player, who, among other reasons, is familiar with Valderrama because he is the coach of Alejandro Cañizares, a member of the club.
Sebastián García Rodríguez wants to save the card in a course he loves
This week, the player from Madrid is signing one of his best tournaments so far in 2021. He arrived at Valderrama with the goal of winning, but in case it is not possible, at least secure his playing rights for 2022, something that is not far away but for which he still needs a good outburst in these final tournaments.
He is currently ranked 136th in the Race to Dubai, and is expected to make the cut at the end of the season around 122nd place. If he finishes the tournament this way, he would move up to 125th, which would be very close to his goal.
The ideal situation for Garcia would be to achieve a top 5 at Valderrama, something that would leave him with the card in his pocket and allow him to enjoy his first tournament on the PGA Tour (he qualified for Mayakoba) without any worries for 2022.
He would not be the first Madrileño to achieve that goal at Valderrama, something already achieved by Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño in 2018, precisely with a fifth place.
A day of sunshine and birdies
The good weather and, above all, the respite given by the wind at Valderrama have led to results much lower than usual in this tournament as reflected in the stroke statistics. On the first day the course was played at an average of 74.3 strokes, on Friday at 73.4 and today it has dropped to 71.7 strokes. A total of 21 players completed the course under par.
The lowest round of the day was by American David Lipsky with 64 strokes with one bogey and eight birdies for seven under par. Curiously, last night he decided to change his putt, something he had never done in the middle of a tournament.
“I sent some videos to my coach, he gave me some advice and, since I had brought two putters, I decided to change it up. I needed to do something because the last two days had been horrible on the greens,” he commented. Undoubtedly, a fortunate change.
Lipsky’s seven under par is two strokes shy of the course record, which remains safely in the hands of Bernhard Langer. The German shot a 62 at the 1994 Volvo Masters, just the day Miguel Angel Jimenez hit his famous albatross on the 17th hole.
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