Borja Virto Astudillo’s love for Chinese food helped him to extend his lead at The Foshan Open after the Spaniard carded a five under par second round 67 to move two shots clear of the field heading into the weekend.
The 24 year old opened with a 64 in the penultimate event of the European Challenge Tour season to hold a one shot lead, and he continued his flawless form with a second consecutive bogey-free round which helped him to a 13 under total.
He did not have quite as an explosive start to his second round as the first – when he began the $500,000 tournament with three successive birdies – but two closing birdies at the eighth and ninth, having teed off on the tenth, mean he enters the weekend with momentum and confidence aplenty.
Virto Astudillo admitted he was both excited and nervous about the weekend but, having claimed a maiden Challenge Tour title at the D+D REAL Slovakia Challenge in July, knows he has experience on his side.
“Obviously it’s exciting,” said the Pamplona-born player, who currently sits right on the brink of European Tour graduation at 15th position in the Road to Oman Rankings. “At the same time it’s easy to get nervous about it so I’m just going to focus on the excitement part and just try to do my best and fight for every shot out there.
I love Chinese food – I’ve always enjoyed it - so it’s great to get some over here!
“Having won already in Slovakia, that’s going to help me a lot going into the weekend, because I know I have been in a similar situation before, and that’s really big in these kinds of situation where there is a lot of pressure involved. Hopefully I can continue to play my best over the weekend and just have fun.
“I think the start today was a bit colder because maybe I didn’t want to get too over-confident so I played it safe and didn’t have many birdie chances in my first few holes.
“My back nine, from one to nine, was better because I gave myself a lot more chances and then I finished with two really good birdies. The eighth was a weird birdie because I drove left into the hazard and couldn’t go more than 70 yards, but then I hit my hybrid from 230 yards with my third shot to three feet for birdie.
“Then at the ninth I hit it again to three feet, so it was a really good finish to a day which was looking only OK but turned out to be really good. It’s nice to go into the weekend on 13 under after two rounds and the game feels good so hopefully I can keep it up.”
Virto Astudillo has not kept his love for Chinese food a secret this week and he is really enjoying his first visit to the most populous nation on earth – something which is having a positive effect on his game.
“It’s my first time in China and I really like it here,” he said. “The golf course is great, in really good condition and I really like the set-up of it. The greens are pure, a bit grainy so sometimes it’s hard to read the putts, but I really like it that way.
“The clubhouse and the facilities here are very good too, I like them a lot, and the people and culture are cool. It’s my first time in China but I’m enjoying it a lot and I love Chinese food – I’ve always enjoyed it - so it’s great to get some over here!”
Haydn Porteous remained in second place after he signed for a four under par 68, which included six birdies and two bogeys, to enter the weekend with an 11 under total.
“There was actually that much difference between today and the first day,” said the Johannesburg player. “Obviously I had a great back nine, four birdies and no bogeys. I missed a ten footer at the ninth to get it to five under at the turn.
“I just didn’t hit the driver as good as I did yesterday, especially on the back nine. But I holed out well, made some good putts – made a great bogey on 15 after losing my ball with a driver, so it was a birdie with my second ball. If you take away that first drive all of a sudden it’s a 66 and not much different to yesterday.
“But I’m feeling quite confident going into tomorrow. I’ve got a little pain in my back so I’ll try get that sorted out and we’ll see what happens tomorrow.”
Frenchman Edouard Dubois (68) and Joachim B Hansen (65) of Denmark shared third place on nine under par, while Portugal’s Ricardo Gouveia continues his determined chase to leapfrog France’s Sebastien Gros at the top of the Road to Oman Rankings, after a six under 66 moved him to outright fifth.
