Ranking
2010-02-25 15:01:10
Santos commands after solid 2nd round at Castro Marim IGT Classic.
As predicted by the weatherman, conditions toughened even further for today's 2nd round at the Castro Marim IGT Classic, with high winds and showers making the narrow fairways a tough target for the players. This however failed to blow Ricardo Santos off course as he displayed another solid driving game missing only one fairway on his way to a rock solid 2 under par score of 70, and open up a 6 shot lead after day 2.
He now leads the Spanish duo of Gonçalo Vicente and Miguel Cantero by 6 and 7 shots respectively, with both these players shooting over par in the tough conditions, although halfway through the back 9 the scores were much closer. Cantero who hails from Valencia, was 4 under for the tournament when he came to the 14th hole, a seemingly innocuous downhill par 4, but he missed the fairway with his tee shot and paid a heavy penalty racking up an ugly quadruple bogey 8. Vicente had played great golf to get to 2 under for the round and also 4 under for the tournament standing on the 15th tee, but he also missed the fairway with his tee shot, lost his ball, then proceeded to hit another tee shot into the heavy rough, matching Cantero's disastrous 8 at the previous hole. Those 2 holes proved key as Ricardo calmly found both fairways and made solid pars, opening up a seemingly comfortable half way stage lead.
Santos birdied both par 5's on the front but bogeyed the tough par 4, 4th hole to turn in 1 under, then birdied the 10th, bogeyed the 12th but got that back immediatly at the 13th getting home in 1 under on the back and a total of 137, 7 under par. As Santos said afterwards “My long game is improving all the time and round this tight golf course of high risk and reward driving, you can make lots of birdies, but miss the fairways and you can make some really high numbers. My putting can still improve, but I am happy with my game especially taking into account the tough weather conditions with strong winds and some rain showers making it difficult. A postive is that we could get similar conditions at the Portuguese and Madeira Open's in about a month's time, and this is great practice and competition for me before these tournaments.”
With the greens in very good conditon and a tough day weatherwise predicted, another good and solid driving display from Ricardo will probably see him win his 2nd event on the IGT and strengthen his position at the top of the IGT Ranking, although the narrow fairways and heavy rough round the Castro Marim might have a final say on that prediction.
He now leads the Spanish duo of Gonçalo Vicente and Miguel Cantero by 6 and 7 shots respectively, with both these players shooting over par in the tough conditions, although halfway through the back 9 the scores were much closer. Cantero who hails from Valencia, was 4 under for the tournament when he came to the 14th hole, a seemingly innocuous downhill par 4, but he missed the fairway with his tee shot and paid a heavy penalty racking up an ugly quadruple bogey 8. Vicente had played great golf to get to 2 under for the round and also 4 under for the tournament standing on the 15th tee, but he also missed the fairway with his tee shot, lost his ball, then proceeded to hit another tee shot into the heavy rough, matching Cantero's disastrous 8 at the previous hole. Those 2 holes proved key as Ricardo calmly found both fairways and made solid pars, opening up a seemingly comfortable half way stage lead.
Santos birdied both par 5's on the front but bogeyed the tough par 4, 4th hole to turn in 1 under, then birdied the 10th, bogeyed the 12th but got that back immediatly at the 13th getting home in 1 under on the back and a total of 137, 7 under par. As Santos said afterwards “My long game is improving all the time and round this tight golf course of high risk and reward driving, you can make lots of birdies, but miss the fairways and you can make some really high numbers. My putting can still improve, but I am happy with my game especially taking into account the tough weather conditions with strong winds and some rain showers making it difficult. A postive is that we could get similar conditions at the Portuguese and Madeira Open's in about a month's time, and this is great practice and competition for me before these tournaments.”
With the greens in very good conditon and a tough day weatherwise predicted, another good and solid driving display from Ricardo will probably see him win his 2nd event on the IGT and strengthen his position at the top of the IGT Ranking, although the narrow fairways and heavy rough round the Castro Marim might have a final say on that prediction.
