Desee algún punto del mundo entre China y Spain, a unos 10,000 metros de altura, Sebastián García Rodríguez dedica unos minutos a contar a Ten Golf cómo se siente tras ganar por primera vez en el HotelPlanner Tour. Han pasado ocho horas frenéticas en las que no ha tenido tiempo ni de mirar el móvil. Son los gajes del oficio de campeón.
Hay muchas fotos, infinitas firmas, saludos aquí y allá a patrocinadores y organizadores, entrevistas y una carrera contra el reloj hacia el aeropuerto para no perder el avión de vuelta. Sebas ya está en su asiento. Por fin puede respirar profundamente y pensar en lo que ha hecho. A su lado, el trofeo. “With the little cup ‘pa’ home, my boy,” he says with a grin from ear to ear while keeping an eye on it. As if someone were going to take it away from there. It’s his and no one else’s.
“I’m very happy. It’s a dream. Yes, I had won more times in the Alps, in Spanish Championships, in Madrid… But I had never done it in the Challenge and it’s very cool,” he assures as a summary. The victory has come in his 131st attempt and 18 years after his debut in this circuit at an Open de Madrid held in Retamares where he shared the stage with Argentine Gustavo Acosta and French Raphäel Eyraud. Neither of them is still battling like Sebas.
García Rodríguez has worked hard. It hasn’t been an overnight success. From May to the end of September, he has played every week except one. He has patiently waited for his opportunity and it has arrived. “I’ve been playing well for a while, but I was missing a bit of putting and mental strength. The work with Jacobo Pastor has helped me a lot on the greens. Today it worked very well. I had spent seven consecutive years on the DP World Tour and returning just a year after losing the card means a lot to me,” he notes.
Sebas won on the second playoff hole. “The truth is I was very calm in the playoff. I felt much more nervous on the 72nd hole. The first playoff hole I was already like saying come on, enjoy and have fun and let it be what God wants,” he states. His first playoff hole was textbook. “Mathematical. I split the fairway in two and hit a second shot over the flag with a seven-foot birdie chance. It ended up an inch short of the hole in line. Then, I was lucky that Julián Perico, who had hit a good shot, missed the putt to the left,” he describes.
The second hole was the decisive one. In the first, Maximiliam Steinlechner fell, and in the second, the Peruvian Perico gave way. “I hit another good drive, although a bit to the right and it ended up in the rough. It was half-buried but well placed. Perico hit it with everything over the bunker but ended up in a slightly awkward position, downhill. I hit a great shot six metres to the left with the 8-iron from 150 metres. Meanwhile, Perico got tangled up. First short of the green, then he went over, and in the end, I had two putts to win,” he recounts.
García Rodríguez played great golf today with a round of 67 strokes, but if he had to choose the great day of the week, it would be yesterday. “It was the toughest day, with rain, and I saved it with a round of -1. I was super proud, happier than with the -6 on the first day. I told my team. It was very cool,” he points out.
Now it’s time to celebrate at home in Madrid with friends before playing the grand final in Mallorca at Alcanada in two weeks.
