Staff WriterIf the Raiffeisenbank Golf Challenge were a spaghetti western, we’d be halfway through the standoff.
Two young guns — one from Yorkshire, the other from Pennsylvania — are locked at 14-under-par, staring each other down with scorecards in hand and Sunday’s final round looming like a showdown at high noon (well, 10:20 am local time, but you get the idea).
Englishman Joshua Berry and American Palmer Jackson both carded 67s on moving day at Golf Resort Kaskáda, positioning themselves two shots clear of the chasing pack.
And while neither man blinked on Saturday, both know that Sunday’s spotlight will burn a little hotter.
Jackson, who is still hunting his first HotelPlanner Tour title, showed early teeth with three front-nine birdies.
A lone blemish at 14 was swiftly corrected with birdies at 15 and a classy closing stroke on 18 — the sort of bounceback play that separates contenders from scorecard scribblers.
“I love that I am in the final group and it’s going to be a lot of fun,” said the 24-year-old American, with all the calm of someone ordering a coffee, not staring down a first pro win.
“It’s a privilege and I am grateful for it, but at the same time I have a job to do and hopefully I get it done,” he added, sounding more like a man clocking in for a shift than preparing to hoist a trophy.
“It was a solid day. I was steady and gave myself a lot of looks and stayed patient. The course was firmer today which has been a consistent theme so far this week.”
Patience is a virtue, and Berry had to dig into his own reserves of it. The Englishman rattled off three birdies on the front nine and picked up another at the tenth.
A hiccup on 14 — three-putt, thank you very much — was quickly smoothed over with a gain at 15.
Not exactly textbook, but very much the gritty stuff of a player who’s done this dance before.
“A second win would be massive, but we are a long way from that right now,” Berry said, brushing off leaderboard pressure with the kind of grounded mindset that psychologists charge good money to instil.
“I’ve just got to go out tomorrow and do my best. It was a solid knock; it was nice to go out on a Saturday and post a nice number.”
“There are chances out here but there are some tough holes as well. It’s about capitalising when you can and hitting the middle of the greens on the tougher holes.”
There’s still plenty of horsepower behind the leaders at this year’s Raiffeisenbank Golf Challenge. Spaniards Sebastian Garcia and Lucas Vacarisas sit just two back on 12-under, while Sweden’s Tobias Jonsson and Hong Kong’s Matthew Cheung are another shot behind and certainly not here for the scenery.
Sunday’s final group — Jackson, Berry, and Vacarisas — tees off at 10:20 am, with the first shots of the day fired from 8:10 am.
By sundown in Czechia, one player will be a HotelPlanner Tour champion. The rest? They’ll be packing stories, stats, and maybe a swing thought or two for the next stop.
But until then, the Raiffeisenbank Golf Challenge is anybody’s ball game — and it’s shaping up to be a beauty.
