Germany’s Yannik Paul was on electric form mid-round at the Mallorca Golf Open on Saturday afternoon on the DP World Tour. Around the turn, 9 under through 8 holes, all eyes were focused on for a 59. The 28 year-old seemed to stall over his final 7 holes finishing with a 62, tied at the top.
Having graduated from the Challenge Tour just 12 months ago, Yannik Paul’s best finish to date on the DP World Tour is 2nd place in the Soudal Open, with a further 4 top 10’s for the German who is currently placing 43rd in the DP World Tour Rankings, a win tomorrow would move him up 23 places to 20th, cementing him at Jumeirah Golf Estates for the DP World Tour Championships.
“It was obviously really good, I had three eagles today and that’s obviously a special day. Once I made that eagle on 11, I thought maybe I can shoot 59 today and I played well after that but the putts just didn’t drop. But overall I’m very happy with my round.
“It would be amazing to win, my girlfriend is here this week so I’m just trying to have a great week. It’s my sixth week in a row so I’m just trying to enjoy it and see where I end up tomorrow.”
Ryan Fox meanwhile, started the day in 2nd spot, and he carried on as he has done all season in fine form. Being in the final group, is no foreign territory for the Kiwi, a bogey free 66, even with a chance on the last to take solo spot wasn’t to be. Just finishing 2nd here would move him into 2nd place on the DP World Tour Rankings, lead by Rory McIlroy.
“It was really solid, I probably only hit two bad shots, the tee shot on one and the tee shot on 14. I gave myself plenty of chances again, maybe felt like I left a couple out there but also made a few as well so it’s always good to bogey free again, it’s probably a record for me bogey-free. Hopefully I can continue that tomorrow.
“Obviously I’d like to get closer to Rory and give him a bit of a run, but it would be nice going into Dubai knowing I hold it in my own hands – if I win that event I could probably win thr Rankings. It’s certainly not a position I didn’t expect to be in at the start of the year and I’ll treat this one and Nedbank with trying to get as close as possible to Rory because I don’t think he’s playing Nedbank, and make it more interesting.”
England’s Richard Mansell also has had a year to be extremally proud of, managing on limited events he has notched 6 top 10’s and 17 cuts out of his 22 starts. The 27 year-old lit up the back 9 at Son Muntander Golf Club while coming back in just 28 strokes, a total of -10, moving him up a huge 31 spots into solo 5th.
While the overnight leader Whitnell had a slow start to his day, level par through 11 holes was the main issue. A couple of birdies in his final 3 holes keeps him in grasp of Paul and Fox while sitting just 2 shots back with Marcus Armitage who had a stella round himself of 68.
