I already told you that I would keep you updated on how this experience of caddying for José María Olazábal at the Staysure Marbella Legends was going. Now, it’s not the first time I’ve carried the bag for a professional colleague and friend. For example, I was with Gonzalo Fernández Castaño at the final of the 2017 Q-School, an event that is no small matter and has a lot at stake. But we also have to acknowledge that Chema is Chema…
The experience of this first round at Aloha has been impressive. A great day of golf, although the start of the round was quite challenging. Starting on the 10th hole, bogey right off the bat on this par 5 after a bad drive, another bogey on the 11th and an almost miraculous par, Olazábal style, on the 12th. After that, it must be said, he got into the groove and I have to objectively say that his final score of PAR was short. He missed two short putts in the final stretch, one to save par and another for birdie, which Chema usually doesn’t miss… Let’s say a final -2 would have been good and a -1, certainly, would have been fairer than PAR.
In the past few days, accompanying Chema in his training sessions at Valderrama and here at Aloha, I’ve given him my opinion on some technical aspects and I’ll just say, to avoid boring you too much, that they have to do with alignment. Olazábal hadn’t competed since September and that always shows, and besides, that lingering injury in his left shoulder doesn’t help either, but he was moderately satisfied with the technical work he’s done these days and, so to speak, we agreed that he was going to implement some tweaks in competition, which is the hardest part, because it’s the moment of truth and you have to commit to the shot, so today he got frustrated with himself on a few occasions because he indeed wasn’t fully committing. Anyway, it’s already a lesson for me to see how he tries…
Speaking of lessons, I already suspected that this experience with Chema would also serve me to learn. Or to refresh some concepts. For example, just seeing him, at 60 years old, putting all that enthusiasm into improving… You come to understand again that this is the spirit, so I’m very grateful to be here.
And tomorrow, more: we tee off from 10:20, again with Peter Baker, a great playing partner. As you can understand, the ultimate goal for Olazábal is more medium and long-term and involves confirming that his left shoulder is in good condition and preparing as best as he can for the Masters, but it’s always nice to win the battle against the course in a beautiful contest. Let’s see if we can achieve it this Saturday. I’ll keep you updated tomorrow.
