Palmer in love with Italy

Jason Palmer with his trophy. (c) Claudio Scaccini.

Jason Palmer confirmed his Alps Tour leadership by winning second title of the season in Cervino Open with two shot margin after posting last round 65. His compatriot Michael Bush had lead for a while at the club house after he fired a astonishing 59, 9 under par.

Bush could have bet on himself. This morning, as the sun lighted the moutains, the Englishman posted on his facebook wall a nice picture with theses comments : “What a beautiful morning, feeling inspired. 59 today!”

And he did score this magical number. His statistics are amazing on par 4. His average of the last round is 3,42. He holed 9 birdies in total and did not make any mistake.

Suazo and Lopez-Lazaro were the main overnight challenger but couldn’t sign for better than -2. They share thirdplace with Austrian duo, Uli Weinhandl and Lukas Nemecz. The latter scored a flawless 61 to climb at 7^th place of the ranking.

The order of merit is the same on top as he was at the beginning of the week : Jason Palmer, Jesus Legarrea, Andrew Cooley, Edouard Espana and Brendan McCarroll.

Agathe Séron

Palmer in charge in Cervino Open

England’s Jason Palmer (c) Agathe Séron

England’s Jason Palmer took one shot advantage of the Cervinio Open after firing 63 during second round. Spain’s Diego Suazo and France’s Johan Lopez-Lazaro ar on his toes two shots back with -7 total.

Palmer won his maiden title last june in Italy in Grado Open. He dedicated his victory ti his passed father and all witnesses if his speech were very touched by his words. It seems that Italy suit to the Englishman.

“I don’t know, the courses suit me, I like the food and the weather. I don’t really know what it the secret but Italy has been good to me.”

Palmer admitted he started his round slowly as he was one over after 3 holes and managed to hole birdies staying patient.

“I tried to stay in the present, taking one shot at a time. Slowly but surely, I made a few birdies. I am pretty happy with the results.”

“I really like the golf course, it suits my game because you don’t have to be long but you have to be accurate. The greens are small and it is all about wedging and putting.”

The wind blew in the afternoon but Palmer didn’t have any trouble with it. “It helps a long when it was down wind and into the wind I just kept the same distances as normal, strange!”

Palmer, leader of the ranking, could take a huge advantage by winning his second trophy tomorrow.

Agathe Séron

Four way tie in Italy

Spain’s Dego Suazo shares lead (c) Agathe Séron

The opening round of Cervino Open was the first one after summer break. The leaderboard is crowdy on top and no less than four players share pole position with 5-under-card : Spain’s Diego Suazo, Italy’s Francesco Gatti and Frenchmen Nicolas Tacher and Nicolas Peyrichou.

Today’s scores proved that even with only 5300 meters for par 68, Cervino course can be a good challenge. The projected cut is level par and sharpness is needed with long game to aim the flag. This golf course is between 1500 and 2000 meters high above the sea and players have to adapt their distance as the ball fly higher in these conditions.

England’s Jason Palmer, current leader at Alps Tour ranking, is one shot behind with a group of 4 others players. Fellow Andrew Cooley, 3^rd at the ranking, is 2 shots late as he missed sharing the lead as he double bogeyed the last hole.

Spain’s Jesus Legarrea, second of the order of merit, did not score very well on this short course. He signed for 69, one over and will have to shoot under par to secure his ranking.

Agathe Séron