Nico Echavarría, in the 'Top 10' and in the fight for the Mexico Open title

The Mexican Álvaro Ortiz and the American Jake Knapp signed cards of 64 strokes, 7 under par this Friday on the second day of the Mexico Open of the PGA Tour and took the lead in the Vidanta field, in Vallarta.

With their performances on Friday, Ortiz and Knapp rose 14 places in the classification compared to Thursday, and thus established a four-way tie for first place together with the Englishman Matt Wallace and the Finnish Sami Valimaki, with a total of 11 strokes under par after two days of competition.

Four Latin American players are in the Top 10 of the tournament. In addition to Ortiz, co-leader, The Colombian Nicolás Echavarría and the Argentine Emiliano Grillo share ninth place. and the Mexican amateur Santiago de la Fuente, who in January was crowned champion of the Latin America Amateur Championship, which gave him entry to three of the four Majors in 2024.

On Friday, Álvaro Ortiz, number 669 in the ranking, left five birdies and an eagle on his round – hole 6.

“I hit the ball very well and I felt very comfortable. I am happy for having made the 'eagle' in the 6th and for being in the position where I am,” said Ortiz at the end of the day.

For his part, Knapp, 101st in the world, recorded seven birdies. “I didn't have my best day on the greens, but I hit the ball very well,” noted the American golfer. Valimaki (110th in the ranking), who was second on Thursday, rose to first place on Friday with a card of 67 strokes, 4 under par.

The Finn made seven birdies, but also three bogeys. The Englishman Matt Wallace (82nd in the world) recorded 65 strokes on the second day of the tournament, 6 under par, with six birdies, an eagle – hole 6 – and two bogeys.

Erik van Rooye, who was the leader on Thursday, fell to fifth place after signing a card with a 69 strokes, 2 under par. In total, the South African is 10 under par after two days.

Mexico Open positions

1. Matt Wallace (ENG) 66 65 -11
. Sami Valimaki (FIN) 64 67 -11
. Álvaro Ortiz (MEX) 67 64 -11
. Jake Knapp (USA) 67 64 -11
5. Erik van Rooyen (RSA) 63 69 -10
6. Andrew Novak (USA) 66 68 -8
. Mark Hubbard (USA) 69 65 -8
8. Chan Kim (USA) 66 69 -7
9. Patrick Rodgers (USA) 66 70 -6
. Stephan Jaeger (GER) 68 68 -6
. Ryan Moore (USA) 69 67 -6
. Lanto Griffin (USA) 66 70 -6
. Dylan Wu (USA) 68 68 -6
. Emiliano Grillo (ARG) 69 67 -6
. Nico Echavarría (COL) 67 69 -6
. Cheeson Hadley (USA) 69 67 -6
. Joseph Bramlett (USA) 66 70 -6
. Carl Yuan (CHN) 71 65 -6
. Jimmy Stanger (USA) 68 68 -6
. Kevin Dougherty (USA) 72 64 -6
. Santiago de la Fuente (MEX) 67 69 -6
. Robby Shelton (USA) 67 69 -6
. Justin Lower (USA) 70 66 -6
. Tony Finau (USA) 69 67 -6
. Henrik Norlander (SWE) 65 71 -6
. Thorbjorn Olesen (DEN) 66 70 -6

SPORTS
With AFP

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