A slice of luck, coupled with arguably the most powerful form of inspiration in the world, ensured Spain’s Alvaro Salto took the first round lead at the European Challenge Tour’s Parco di Monza Challenge after an opening round of six under par 65 gave him a one stroke advantage over Portuguese rookie Tiago Cruz and Spain’s Juan Parron at the stunning Golf Club Milano.
Salto recently became a father for the first time in his life and is truly inspired just thinking about his baby son, Alvaro, or ‘Alvarito’ (little Alvaro). Such a source of positive thinking, along with two bouts of good fortune, ensured that Salto carded the best round of the day on the outskirts of Milan.
Cruz and Parron were not far behind him, with Germany’s Kariem Baraka, Rafael Cabrera Bello of Spain, Italy’s Alessio Bruschi, Argentina’s Sebastien Fernandez, Finalnd's Mikko Korhonen, Denmark’s Thomas Nielsen and another Portuguese, Ricardo Santos.
One under for the day after seven holes, Salto’s luck came good on the par four eighth hole, an extreme par four dog-leg right where the Spaniard pushed his tee shot through the trees.
“Normally my ball would have hit 20 trees but for whatever reason it missed everything and came out the other side,” said Salto.
“When I got up to my ball I said to myself that I could put a good score together and I then put my eight iron approach to two feet and made the birdie putt. After that I eagled the ninth to turn in four under.
His next bout of luck arrived on the 13th where he managed to conjure a birdie three despite pulling his six iron approach. He said: “It is typical of this game that you make two bad shots but have birdies. Usually, you are playing well and then you are stopped by a bit of bad luck. Sometimes you think you don’t deserve it but it happens the other way so I am happy today!”
Not even a bogey-bogey finish could bring dampen Salto’s spirits as he turned his thoughts to his baby son. Salto recognises that his life will never been the same again after the arrival of ‘Alvarito’ on November 16, 2005, and is more determined than ever to have success on the golf course for the sake of his family.
“My attitude towards golf has definitely changed. In a way, you do not care about the bad shots anymore. Before ‘Alvarito’ was born it would take me two or three holes to get my focus back, but now I can forget the bad shots straight away and get my focus back on playing one shot at a time.
“But I also now have a responsibility to my son and that makes golf more important than ever, because I have to provide for my family.”
The 23 year old Cruz, and the 24 year old Parron may not have the same source of inspiration as Salto, but both are fuelled by the desire of a hungry, young golfers trying to make their way in the game. They certainly showed their mettle at the Golf Club Milano with excellent first round performances.
Cruz put together an eagle, four birdies and just a single dropped shot, while Parron cancelled out his two bogeys with seven birdies in a putting master class on the exceptional greens of the Golf Club Milano.
“I have had a bad start to the year, but then I played well in Madeira and Portugal on The European Tour and that has given me some confidence to play well on the Challenge Tour,” said Cruz.
“My swing feels a lot better now than it was at the start of the year as well but there are other things that make it difficult when you first turn professional. I am still young and learning a lot every week. You have to be very patient out here and you have to try and not focus on any bad shots you hit. I think it is important that if you hit a bad shot then you forget about it as quickly as possible and move on.”
Parron, who has been a professional for four seasons but, like Cruz, is a Challenge Tour rookie, commented: “I played great today and my putting was almost perfect. I want to get to The European Tour, so, for me, the Challenge Tour is a great Tour and a great experience.”
