There are many concepts that make sport great, but undoubtedly one of the most important is called “pressure”. It’s what brings out the best and worst in each of us in life, and of course, also in sport. Joel Moscatel has had to deal directly with it on the fourth day of the Le Vaudreuil Golf Challenge. He has done so wonderfully and has added his second victory of the season.
The Spaniard had a lot at stake today in Normandy. Not every week you are in a position to win and he himself was aware that a victory sealed his promotion to the DP World Tour. The pressure was more than present. No one better than the player himself to explain how he felt today: “Every tournament is different, but here I was much more nervous than in Seville, I knew that winning here might guarantee me the DP World Tour card. In Seville I had no expectations, but definitely that victory gave me confidence to know that I could do it again”.
The nerves have been present all day and they were affecting the Spaniard: “The start was not easy at all because I was not hitting good wedge shots”. However, the problem is not that there is pressure, but how you face these difficulties: “Throughout the day I had holes where I had the opportunity to make a birdie and then I was fighting for par. We saved a lot of pars. They were really important, that’s what saved me today”. Hold on, hold on, hold on.
After withstanding the pressure all day, it was time to step up and at the hottest moment of the day, he withstood the pressure like no one else. Birdie on hole 18 to force the tiebreaker and a great par on the first playoff hole, where he also nearly made a birdie: “I’m very happy, my caddie and I played the 18 very well, and then the tenth hole of the tiebreaker was the same”. Let’s not overlook the reference to his caddie. No one wins alone and Moscatel is clear about that.
With his second victory of the year, the Spaniard adds 870 points and regains third place in the Road to Mallorca surpassing the Frenchman Alexander Levy who last week took that position from him. He only has ahead the Dane Rasmus Neergard-Petersen and the Englishman John Parry.
As soon as he won the tournament, they reminded the Catalan that with a third victory he will not have to wait until next season to be promoted: “is that now your next goal?” a Challenge Tour worker asked him. Joel with great simplicity answered: “My next goal is to enjoy this victory, and then play the Open qualifier, but yes winning twice is simply incredible”. Each victory is hard-won, so it’s important to savour it.
The 25-year-old player trained by Alejandro Larrazábal also achieves his best world ranking ever and is now close to the top 250 in the world. In just seven months he has climbed almost a thousand places. In November he was at number 1152 and just a week ago at 429. As it is his second victory of the year he also receives the multiplier bonus that will have him waking up tomorrow in a position close to 250 in the world, always according to guru Nosferatu.
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