Gonzo: class ball-striker and fan of trickle-down economics.
You may have been led to believe that the class field of the week was hanging out at The Lakes, but no(!), the Singapore Open is the place to be. Or at least it was, until a downpour of biblical proportions disrupted play and forced the cancellation of the scheduled third round.
This decision to abbreviate play will come as particularly good news to Spain’s Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano, who beat the weather to card a spectacular 10-under-par 61 in the second round.
A phenomenal ball-striker whose struggles with the flat-stick make him an occasionally tentative front-runner, the man they call “Gonzo” will be happy to have escaped the trials of Moving Day.
(Apropos of nothing, I thought I’d mention the leader’s political views. He’s not a fan of Spain’s upper tax bracket:
Rough translation: “Message to Zapatero: you’re going to strip us all naked.”)
At 15-under-par, the Spaniard currently enjoys a three-shot lead over a resurgent Edoardo Molinari, for whom 2011 has been a lost season, and unheralded Englishman James Morrison (not this James Morrison, mercifully).
Three-time Asian Tour winner Juvic Pagunsan of the Phillipines sits alone in fourth place, a further two shots back.
Promising New Zealander Danny Lee, Anders Hansen and friend of the blog Michael Hoey round out the top-five.
But what of the aforementioned Quality (with a capital “Q”)?
Phil Mickelson, Anthony Kim, Jeff Overton, Ernie Els, Graeme McDowell… *deep breath*… Louis Oosthuizen, Justin Rose and Y.E. Yang will all be around for the one-day weekend, but will need to produce rounds varying from the spectacular to the positively Kim Jong-il-esque to significantly impact the final standings.
Conor Nagle
