Perhaps there are those who cannot convince that a Major is so open for the last day, but what is certain is that Sunday is going to be busy and there may be many surprises. Before reaching the great battle, the figure of the leader must be highlighted, American Alex Smalleywhom all the media have been quoting since yesterday.
The Rochester player, who studied environmental science at Duke University, He scored 68 strokes (204 total, -6) this Saturday to be the sole leader with two ahead of the group that is at -4, with Jon Rahm at the head. He played a formidable second nine holes and that It started with three bogeys in the first four holes. He is the ‘Rocky Balboa’ of the players who will go out for the Wanamaker trophy this Sunday. In fact, on Friday he confessed: “I don’t really like being the center of attention, so I’m still getting used to playing in front of large groups of people in tournaments like this”. Coming out in the main event on ‘D-day’ he will not be able to hide.
He debuted on the PGA Tour in 2017 and now, at 29 years old, he is playing his fifth Major. Smalley is enjoying his best season, having made the cut in 12 of 13 tournamentsincluding five consecutive top 25s and a T-2 at the Zurich Classic last month. He hasn’t won in his career, but this season he has risen to 78th place in the ranking. The leader of the PGA he is playing well and with confidence and now he faces a trial by fire.
The war is going to be incredible because 43 players are in six hits. The names involved are spectacular, with Rahm, Aberg, McIlory, Reed, Schauffele, Scheffler, Koepka… And here we must include Spanish David Puig, who threw 71 shots (+1) on a complicated day sharing a round with the world number 1 and he is just like him, with 209 in total. The Catalan undoubtedly has the game to succeed and his current situation is already a success, but why not dream of victory or a ‘top 10’ to make a spectacular leap in the ranking. To go up he will have to avoid mistakes like the ones this Saturday. He made six bogeys and found a good ally in putting and was able to make an eagle on 16. He is going to have to take more fairways if he wants to progress in the classification.
Scheffler also survived the afternoon galealthough a couple of times he gestured dissatisfied with his blows. He also made 71, but the fact is that he doesn’t miss a party. “I felt like I did pretty well today, staying in the fight. Yes, I hit good shots, a lot of putts that were close to the hole. Sometimes it’s like playing the lottery with so much slope on the greens and so much wind,” he said. His surprise is the same as everyone’s: “I have never seen a classification like this, so compact.”
