The French stranglehold on the leader-board may have been loosened somewhat on day-two of the Golf Andorra Open, but the Gauls remain in possession of the top-three.
Theo Boulet’s 64 leapfrogs him over his compatriots and overnight leaders Kedochim and Margolis to take the lead on -11, two clear. An Italian and Spanish charge bunched the pack to spice things up for the final round on Saturday.
Paul McBride and Robert Moran fly the Irish flag on the final day with both sitting on -4, seven shots back from the lead. Moran’s day wasn’t helped by a second six of the week on the par-4 11th. McBride’s 68 pulled him level with his compatriot heading into Saturday as five birdies would see The Island GC man go -3 for his day.
It wasn’t to be for the rest of the Irish contingent at the Golf Andorra Open, however. Michael Young’s level-par round not enough to make the par cut unfortunately. +2 for the week would see Young bow out early. It would be a similar story for Marc Boucher and Brandon St. John as they too would succumb to difficult Fridays.
“I strongly believe that what has made a difference in my game has been my putting, my short- and long-range putts have been exceptionally good,” Boulet explained. “Also, I’m seeing that I’ve been able to make fewer mistakes during this week and also during the last tournament, which I won at Mirabelle, and that is resulting in me being able to make fewer bogeys, so that allows me to put together a lower score overall.”
After today’s round, Boulet takes away some valuable knowledge about his attitude: “I can say that it was really good. I was able to stay calm when I missed a shot, and I was in the present and always focused on my game plan. I worked a lot on my attitude and the hard work I did is paying off. For tomorrow, I won’t change anything compared to the 1st two rounds. The only attention I will have is staying vigilant about what mood I put myself in ahead of the tournament, and then if I keep doing what I did the past two days, I’m sure everything will take care of itself.”
Margolis reflected on a trickier second round: “The course was more complicated today, the pin positions were tougher, and I felt even though there was less wind, it was much hotter than what it was yesterday, so it was overall it was a harder round.” Thinking about today’s round, Margolis commented: “I hit the ball very good again, but it was as precise. My putting was a little off today, I had a lot of lip outs compared to yesterday where I made a lot of putts. Overall compared to yesterday every part of my game was a little less sharp but it was still a very good round.” He guesses that the “with a 14 under-par score you will grab the trophy tomorrow.”
Boulet heads out for his final round with fellow countrymen, Margolis and Kedochim at 9.17 tomorrow morning as the French trio battle it out for the Golf Andorra Open. McBride and Moran both head out in match 10 tomorrow with French amateur Nathan Legendre at 8.11. The Irish pair can hope to drive each other on to a solid showing for the final day in Andorra.