El Prat shows its teeth and Nacho Elvira holds his own
Nacho Elvira is the best Spaniard at the end of the second round of the Estrella Damm Catalunya Championship, which is co-led by Denmark’s Lucas Bjerregaard and Italy’s Stefano Mazzoli at 11 under par. Elvira carded a 68 and remains five strokes off the lead (-6).
Although the rain over the last few days softened El Prat, the Rosa course proved a tough test that showed no mercy for errors from the tee. Placing the first shot well and making the putt were the keys to the best scores of the day, with those of Yurav Premlall and JC Ritchie, both South Africans, standing out as they completed the round in 64 strokes (-8).
After a somewhat poor start, Nacho Elvira strung together a spectacular run of an eagle and three consecutive birdies from the 1st to the 4th (on his second nine) to climb the leaderboard and face the weekend with optimism.
“I started the day a bit stuck, with that feeling that things just weren’t quite coming together. I’m still playing very well, but it seems the putt isn’t quite on my side,” explained Elvira.
“I’d had a month of tournaments where I couldn’t quite find a good swing, but over the last nine holes I’ve regained a very good feeling ahead of the weekend.”
At the top of the leaderboard are Lucas Bjerregaard and Stefano Mazzolli. The Dane already has two victories on the DP World Tour (the 2017 Portugal Masters and the 2018 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship).
European Amateur Champion in 2010, he made his way as a professional in the Nordic Golf League and on the Challenge Tour before making his debut in 2014 on the DP World Tour.
He won the 2018 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at the Old Course at St. Andrews and that season recorded 10 top ten finishes on the DP World Tour, rising to 42nd in the OWGR. In the 2019 Majors, Bjerregaard performed strongly, finishing 21st at the Masters and 16th at both the PGA Championship and the Open Championship.
His standout moment came at the WGC Dell Technologies Match Play when he knocked Tiger Woods out in the quarterfinals. Afterwards, he endured a prolonged run of poor form and health issues and considered retiring from golf in 2024.
“I’m trying to take a little different approach to it this year and take it a little more as it comes. I’ve been stressing a lot about golf for the last many years, and I’m trying to be a bit… I’m not really sure how to put it, but just take everything a little bit lighter and go, yeah, as we go,” he said.
“The thing I’ve figured out about golf in the last five years is that, you know, it was good today, it was good yesterday, but you never know about tomorrow, you never know about next week. So I’m kind of not trying to put too much on these last couple of rounds, but I’m obviously very happy to be where I am and hopefully that can continue for a couple more days.”
Tied with Bjerregaard is Italian Stefano Mazzoli, who is playing his first season on the DP World Tour without having managed to break into the top positions until now.
“The most important thing has been to step up. I’m making some technical changes, but the most significant change is my attitude on the course; I’m proving to myself that I’m good enough,” he said.
The Spaniards who have made the cut, in addition to Nacho Elvira, are Iván Cantero and Alejandro del Rey (-5), Eugenio Chacarra and Alfredo García Heredia (-4), Jorge Campillo, Adri Arnaus and Rafa Cabrera Bello (-3), and Rocco Repeto, Quim Vidal and Ángel Hidalgo (-2).
INSIDE THE ROPES
Penalty for Hidalgo
Ángel Hidalgo has incurred a one-stroke penalty for slow play, which nearly cost him his place in the cut. As tournament director Miguel Vidaor explained, “a couple of years ago our players’ committee asked us to introduce tougher rules against slow play, and we introduced the excessive shot time rule”.
“When a player exceeds 80 seconds, or 70 seconds plus a five-second grace period, it is considered excessive shot time. It does not result in a penalty stroke, but it does incur fines”.
“The problem is that when you’re being monitored, as was the case, if you exceed 85 seconds on a shot, it’s an immediate penalty stroke. And Ángel, unfortunately, took around 96 seconds to play his shot on the 7th hole,” he explained.
The Estrella Damm Catalunya Championship in numbers
Turning the Real Club de Golf El Prat into the epicentre of European golf for the entire week requires a massive logistical and human effort on a par with major sporting events. More than 620 people are directly involved in organising the tournament, including DP World Tour staff, organisers, security personnel and volunteers.
The scale of the event is also reflected in figures such as the 70,000 bottles of water distributed, the 1,800 parking spaces provided, the 20 kilometres of rope installed around the course, and the 2,400 balls prepared for the driving range. Added to this are 80 operational buggies, 140 communication radios and 75 plants used to decorate the different areas of the tournament.
Around a hundred journalists have been accredited to cover the tournament from the press room, including representatives from general, digital and sports media, as well as TV and radio networks.
The spirit of Severiano crosses the pond
The story of Argentine golfer Andrés Germán Gallegos has not gone unnoticed during the week of the tribute to Severiano Ballesteros and clearly shows that the passion for the man from Pedreño transcends all borders. His brother and coach, Roberto Severiano, did not receive that name by chance: his father, a passionate admirer of two eternal legends, Roberto De Vicenzo and Seve Ballesteros, wanted to pay tribute to both by combining their names into a single identity. Over the years, that sentimental decision ultimately led him to dedicate his life to golf.
On Thursday 7 May, marking the 15th anniversary of Seve’s passing, Andrés completed the first round of the Estrella Damm Catalunya Championship at the Real Club de Golf El Prat with a par card. He finished Friday with a second round of -2, allowing him to make the cut by the skin of his teeth and fighting right up to the last shot, in true Seve style. In a week paying tribute to the genius from Pedreña, from the first shot to the final putt, Seve’s spirit hovers over the course and over the personal history of the Gallegos, a family forever marked by their admiration for one of the great icons of world golf.
Tickets for the Estrella Damm Catalunya Championship (with a 25% discount for federation members, 50% off for young people aged 13 to 17, and free entry for children under 13) can be purchased here. Throughout the tournament, the ticket office at El Prat will be open.
The Estrella Damm Catalunya Championship, a DP World Tour tournament included in the Race to Dubai as the first event of the European Swing, is held thanks to the essential collaboration of the Real Club de Golf El Prat. It is sponsored by Estrella Damm and will kick off the Road to 2031 Ryder Cup, a journey that will end at the 2031 Ryder Cup to be held at Camiral.