For two weeks in a row, a proxy war between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour will be held in the Middle East. The protagonists of the confrontation are Abraham Anser (Mexico) and Cameron Young (USA). The two competed for the first and second place at the PIF Saudi International (total prize money of 5 million dollars), the opening game of the Asian Tour.
The third round of the tournament was held at the Royal Greens Golf & Country Club (par 70) near Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on the 4th (Korean time). Answer hit a 6-under-par 64 with a no-bogey play, leading the runner-up Young by two strokes with a median total of 17-under-par 193. Answer, who made three birdies each in the first half and second half, said, “I played very solidly” after the game. “There were no mistakes today. It’s the goal I’ve always wanted.”
Answer is a Mexican citizen, but he is a Mexican-American dual citizen who was born in Texas, Arizona, and graduated from the University of Oklahoma, which is famous for golf. He appears to be 170 cm tall in his profile, but he is actually shorter. Still, his driving average distance is 297 yards.
He won the Australian Open in 2018 and won the PGA Tour St. Jude Invitational in 2021 by defeating Hideki Matsuyama (Japan) and Sam Burns (USA) in overtime. If he wins this tournament, it will be his third win. Answer missed out on qualifying at last week’s Hero Dubai Desert Classic.
2nd place Young defeated Kim Joo-hyung last season to become the PGA Tour Rookie of the Year. Young, who participated in this tournament with special permission from the PGA Tour, cut 5 strokes with 7 birdies and 2 bogeys in the third round, a moving day, to finish second with a median total of 15 under par, 195 strokes, by two strokes.
Matthew Wolf (USA), Lucas Herbert (Australia), and Sadom Kaukanjana (Thailand) tied for third place with an interim total of 10 under par 200 strokes, 5 strokes behind leader Answer, narrowing the competition for the title to a match between Answer and Young. lost. The clash between the two is interesting because it is a proxy war between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour for two weeks in a row. Last week at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic, Rory McIlroy (Northern Ireland) of the PGA Tour defeated Patrick Reed (USA) of LIV Golf by a stroke to win the title. 메이저놀이터
The championship competition between the two is also a battle of accuracy and long hitting power. This can be seen from the play of the 18th hole (par 5), the last hole of the 3rd round. Answer caught a birdie on the 18th hole with 100 yards left, putting the ball to the pin 1.5m with a pitching wedge. On the other hand, Young succeeded in 2-on with an iron, but ended up par with a 3-putt. Young said, “I don’t care. He will catch as many drivers as possible even in the final round.”
Korean players fell into the middle and lower ranks. Kim Young-soo cut 2 strokes with 3 birdies and 1 bogey, and tied for 41st place with a median total of 3 under par and 207 strokes. Moon Gyeong-jun tied for 45th with Park Sang-hyun, who lost two strokes on the day, with a median total of 2 under par, 208 strokes, and Lee Tae-hee tied for 55th with an intermediate total of even par.