Christiaan Bezuidenhout will take a five shot lead over local hero Jon Rahm into the final round of the Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters hosted by the Sergio Garcia Foundation as he looks for his first European Tour victory. World Number 11 Rahm recorded his best round as a professional at Real Club Valderrama with a 67 to sit at five under par alongside Japan's Hideto Tanihara, but the duo could not keep pace with Bezuidenhout, whose round of 69 took him to ten under par.

The South African arrived in Spain off the back of claiming third place at last week's BMW International Open. He came in to Saturday with a four shot lead, but with three birdies and just one bogey he managed to stretch that advantage on one of the toughest layouts on the Race to Dubai.

Tanihara carded a round of 68 to join Rahm in a tie for second place, two shots ahead of Belgian duo Nicolas Colsaerts and Thomas Detry. Tournament host Garcia and 2018 Ryder Cup captain Thomas Bjørn are then in a group of nine players eight shots off the lead at two under par.

Player quotes

Christiaan Bezuidenhout:

“I take a lot from that. Definitely wasn’t my best ball striking day today. I made some great saves on the turn through seven to nine. Got all three up and down there, which kept the momentum going.

“Going into Sunday with a five shot lead is definitely nice. I’ll just keep playing my game and see how I finish up tomorrow.

“Rahm is a great player, he’s top 15 in the world and he’s a legend in Spain so it will be quite an experience tomorrow. I haven’t played with him yet so I’m looking forward to the challenge and we’ll see how we go tomorrow.”

Jon Rahm:

“The biggest difference today was how I played off the tee, I can't recall missing many fairways. I always had a chance and on that front nine, I putted for birdie pretty much on every hole.

“There was maybe a little bit more commitment on some shots but that's only because I was always in the fairway and always had a chance.

“I'm confident, there's a lot of shots to make up and I'm also aware that every time you play here in the afternoon the wind is going to pick up, the greens are going to get a little firmer every single day. If I can get off to a good start and play as solid a nine holes as I did today, I give myself a chance on the back nine."

Nicolas Colsaerts

“It feels pretty good. For the last two days I’ve been a bit up and down on the back nine, every time I make a bogey I bounce back, which is pretty satisfying on a course that doesn’t give you many opportunities.

“Coming over the years you start to have an idea about how to play this place. I think the biggest difference is that my shot selection is a lot better off the tee, which is key on this golf course.”

Sergio Garcia:

“I’ll do the same thing tomorrow, there’s not much more I can do. I don’t know how to explain that I shot 73 the way I hit the ball, it just doesn’t make sense.

"That’s the way golf goes sometimes; the only thing I can do is play as well as I’ve been playing every single day, and hopefully everything that’s been going wrong goes right. If not, we’ll try to finish as high as possible. It’s disappointing because I feel I hit so many good shots and got nothing out of them, but that’s how it goes.”

Thomas Bjørn:

“I played lovely - I haven’t played like that for a long time. Very happy just with a round of golf just now. Four weeks ago I was in a boot with a bad ankle, wasn’t really looking to be playing. I’m delighted with how that has turned out so that I can be out playing golf.

“It’s been a while since I have felt as good about my golf game as I did today. It’s funny what a good night’s sleep can do in golf.”

Christiaan Bezuidenhout mastered the tougher conditions during round two to take a commanding four shot lead into the weekend at the Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters hosted by the Sergio Garcia Foundation. The fearsome Real Club Valderrama had proved scoreable in round one as Bezuidenhout registered a round of 66 but firmer greens and higher winds made it a different proposition on Friday.

The South African signed for a round of 68 in the morning to get to eight under par, as he chases his first European Tour win following his third place finish at last week's BMW International Open.

With conditions getting even tougher in the afternoon, tournament host Sergio Garcia, fellow home favourites Adri Arnaus and Alvaro Quiros, and Welshman Bradley Dredge emerged as the closest challengers at four under par.

Quiros had carded a 68 in the morning and Garcia battled to an afternoon 72 to keep himself right in the mix to win this event for the third consecutive season. He also has a victory at this event in 2011 and ten other top tens from 14 appearances at Valderrama and he delighted the home fans on the ninth as he chipped in for a birdie to go with two other gains and four bogeys.

Arnaus signed for a 70 and Dredge carded a 71 to make it a four way tie in second place, with only Brooks Koepka at the US PGA Championship holding a bigger 36 hole lead than Bezuidenhout so far on the 2019 Race to Dubai.

India's Gaganjeet Bhullar, South African George Coetzee, Scotland's Scott Jamieson, Finn Mikko Korhonen and Frenchman Victor Perez are all one shot further back at three under par, with 12 players in a tie for 11^th place at two under par.

Player quotes

Christiaan Bezuidenhout:

“First of all I just kept it in play really nicely. That’s the key thing here, hitting fairways. I was driving it really well. On a course like this you can score well if you hit the fairways but if you don’t you can really struggle.

“I prefer the tougher conditions. It’s tough for everyone. The wind is getting quite a bit stronger, you just have to face it.  

“It’s going to be tough - it’s tough without wind - so I’m just hoping to do the same, hit fairways and greens, give myself chances and see where I finish up.”

Álvaro Quirós:

“Being local, it’s always nice to play in front of my home crowd, but Valderrama is one of those few courses where you can sometimes do better if you don’t know it too well – I am starting to know every single corner for good or for bad.  

“This is not a long hitter’s golf course. Most of the time we are looking to place the ball off the tee and we are not allowed to hit the driver every single time – that’s not an advantage for long hitters. I don’t consider myself at disadvantage here, but really my length doesn’t help a lot.”

Adri Arnaus:

“It wasn’t playing easy, the wind picked up and in the afternoon the greens were firmer. It was kind of a grind for most of the round until I made that eagle putt on 17, which was my highlight.

“You have to pick whenever you are going to be aggressive, definitely not all the time. I was probably aggressive five times, the rest was just keep it in play, keep it in the middle of the green and try to make some putts. If some dropped that was going to be a bonus. It was just one of those days.”

Sergio García:

“Obviously it was very difficult this afternoon, the greens were very firm and it got quite windy, more than yesterday afternoon. I just didn’t make any putts, but I felt like I played really well under the conditions and the difficulty of the course.

“The way the course is playing you have to pick your spots, there are some good spots where you can be aggressive, but you also have to be a little bit careful.

“It’s always great to play in Spain. Playing in front of Spanish people is amazing; I always enjoy it, it’s one of my favourite things, and thanks to that I’ve been very successful in Spain.”

The Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters makes for an eventful week that goes beyond the purely sporting action. The social and family character of the event is reflected in a large number of initiatives featured for the week.

• On Wednesday, Sergio García, on behalf of his Foundation, presented the representatives of “Por una sonrisa” with €110,000 raised in the 2018 edition of the tournament. This association aims to improve the well-being of young cancer patients. In 2019, half of the funds raised during tournament week will go towards a cause promoted by tournament host through the Sergio Garcia Foundation, with the other half going to the European Tour Foundation. Up to now €60,000 were raised at Tuesday’s charity auction, with the star item being Sergio’s golf bag at the last Ryder Cup.

• Once again, the Royal Andalusian Golf Federation group starred in Wednesday’s Pro-Am. The team, made up by three promising juniors from Andalusia – Ana Amalia Pina, Marta López and Ángel Ayora – played nine holes with Benjamin Hebert in the morning and the second nine with Guido Migliozzi in the afternoon. Another local team qualified for the Pro-Am through the amateur tour Gran Copa Diputación. Manuel Huerta Paez, Antonio Ochoteco and Eva Camacho made up the Diputación de Cádiz team and had the opportunity to play with David Borda and Richard Sterne.

• Valderrama is the only Spanish course to play host to four different official European Tour events. They are the Volvo Masters (1988-1996 and 2002-2008), WGC – Mexico Championship (1999-2000), Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters (2010-2011 and 2017-2018) and Open de España (2016)

• At the par five 17th on Thursday, Haydn Porteous found the cup with his second shot – a six iron from 215 yards. This was the fourth albatross in Valderrama history and the third in this hole, after those made by McDowell and Jiménez.

• Former world number one Ai Miyazato is present at Real Club Valderrama this week. The nine time LPGA Tour winner has come support her brother Yusaku playing in the tournament.

• Pablo Larrazábal had a great performance on Thursday on the testy Valderrama greens. His 22 putts were the best of the day.

• One of the highlights of the day was the clinic promoted by the European Tour for 16 promising golfers from the junior squads of the Royal Andalusian Golf Federation. Pedro Oriol and Javi Colomo enjoyed conducting this clinic almost as much as did their attentive audience.

Sergio Garcia continued his remarkable love affair with Real Club Valderrama to sit just one shot off the lead after round one of the Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters hosted by the Sergio Garcia Foundation. The Spaniard has won the last three stagings of this event - in 2011, 2017 and 2018 - and has ten other top tens from 14 appearances at a course he admits is his favourite in the world.

An opening bogey-free round of 66 in Sotogrande left him amongst a group of five players at five under par, one shot behind Frenchman Victor Perez.

European Challenge Tour graduate Perez was also bogey-free in his round of 65 in an impressive start to his debut at the Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters.

South Africa's Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Malaysian Gavin Green, Swede Anton Karlsson and American Sihwan Kim are also one shot off the lead, with Welshman Bradley Dredge, Japan's Masahiro Kawamura, Frenchman Matthieu Pavon and American Julian Suri one shot further back at four under par.

South African Haydn Porteous, who recorded the third albatross of the season on the 17th hole, joins Spanish pair Pablo Larrazabal and Adri Arnaus amongst a group of ten players at three under par, while world number 11 Jon Rahm joins seven other players one shot further back after lighting up his round with a chip-in eagle on the 11th hole.

Player quotes
Victor Perez: “I'm very pleased to keep the card clean, it's one of the toughest places to do it. I was just really happy, we had a really good game plan going in to take advantage of the softer conditions.

“The fairway is key here. Once you start missing fairways, the greens are so small you're basically meant to be shortsided on your approaches into the greens. There's a lot of slope, it's fast and the greens are really small. The moment you start missing greens it gets tricky.

Sergio Garcia: “I love this place, there is no doubt about that. It kind of has something that helps me. Today was a great round, I hit the ball very well. It's probably the best that I've felt in quite a while.

“Even though the conditions were great, you still have to hit the shots in the right places and to be able to go bogey free here, it's always good.

“It's just the first round and we have to keep building on that and look forward to a good week. It's still Thursday, you've got to go one step at a time, there's still a lot of golf to be played.

Anton Karlsson: “I played great out there today. Had a bogey on the last, but it’s the only tee shot around here that you really have to draw the ball and I’m not really a drawer of the driver, so I’ve bogeyed that hole a few times before.

“Some solid golf, didn’t miss a lot of shots at all out there and that’s kind of what you have to do around here. It’s a great course, it’s definitely one of my favourites.”

Jon Rahm: “Things did turn around on 11 when I chipped it in. I was fully aware before the round started that if you play 12 to 15 even par it’s a great score. I was able to make par in those and then I hit a lot of good shots coming in, but I just didn’t make the putts I had.

“On the other hand, I was happy I two-putted the last because you just don’t want to finish on a bad note. Still, two under par is a great round; hopefully I can come early in the morning and do what the leaders did and shoot something lower.”

A new era for the event was heralded this year when Estrella Damm, the iconic premium lager brand of the Spanish brewing company Damm, became the new title sponsor in a significant five-year deal, which will also see the prize fund rise to €3,000,000 - an increase of €1,000,000 from 2018.

Tickets for the Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters 2019 hosted by the Sergio García Foundation are on sale now at the event website. For more information, see the event website, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

The Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters hosted by the Sergio García Foundation, an event in the European Tour’s Race to Dubai made possible by the essential contribution of the Real Club Valderrama, is sponsored by Estrella Damm and the Consejería de Turismo, Regeneración, Justicia y Administración Local of the Junta de Andalucía, jointly funded by EU and declared Event of Exceptional Public Interest by the Spanish Government. This tournament is also supported by the Diputación de Cádiz, Dubai Duty Free, Rolex, Exterior Plus, La Reserva Club de Sotogrande, Santander Private Banking and Shell. Callaway, Coca-Cola, Enterprise, Grupo Raga, ISDIN, Korporate Technologies Group, Marca, Maui Jim, el Hospital QuirónSalud Campo de Gibraltar, the Real Federación Andaluza de Golf and Volvo are official suppliers. 5J, Gadira, Grupo Joly and Varma collaborate in the event as well.