Angel Hidalgo tops leaderboard, Jon Rahm in hot pursuit

Angel Hidalgo started the day with a four-shot lead and added a 68 to his tally at the acciona Open de España to reach 13-under and take the lead, albeit diminished, into the final day.

“After the short putt I missed on 12, I played great golf, I think. Three under in the back part of the course is pretty good,” said Hidalgo.

“Normally my caddie reads the lines with me and on the last one, I saw Jon’s putt on 18 – I was on the 17th green – and I saw the ball break a lot. I said to my caddie, ‘I putt this one’, and it was a good stroke.”

Jon Rahm had to play much of his round without his damaged driver while it was being repaired but still managed to close with a bogey-free 65 to move into second place at 11-under. Rahm felt missing his driver didn’t affect him much.

“I was happy to hear on 12 that I was going to have it by 14. I think it might have been a little moment of happiness that gave me a boost for the rest of the round,” he said.

“Hopefully I can end up with the win but it’s definitely going to be a Sunday atmosphere-wise that they haven’t experienced yet. There’s going to be a lot of people watching, and it’s going to be a lot of fun.”

David Puig also closed with a bogey-free 65 to reach 10-under.

The three Spanish players will be playing together on Sunday.

“I know David really well, I played with him when I was young,” said Hidalgo. “Jon, what can I say? He’s the G.O.A.T. in this tournament. I can’t wait to arrive at the first tee tomorrow.”

England’s Joe Dean and American Patrick Reed are tied in fourth place at 8-under after rounds of 69 and 68 respectively.

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