Albert Boneta goes out to compete every day with two obligations that have little or nothing to do with the result. These are duties he sets for himself, almost always related to the mental aspect. Today, before teeing off on the 1st for the fourth round of the Final Stage of the DP World Tour, he ingrained two ideas: stay positive no matter what and be patient. They seem simple and even obvious, but they require effort. You have to be committed to them.
The acid test came early for the young 23-year-old golfer from Barcelona. On the 4th hole, a par 3, he hit a really unusual shot from the tee, the kind you don’t see often, and sent the ball out of bounds. “It was a horrible shank, short and to the left, it bounced on the path and got lost,” he explains to Ten Golf. These are shots that can leave you in shock, but Albert had tasks to fulfil today and didn’t allow it.
His reaction was spectacular. He made a birdie on the 5th, playing a textbook hole. He repeated a birdie on the 6th and made another on the 8th, a stretch of the Lakes course at Infinitum Golf that is not exactly a walk in the park. “Well, I told myself to keep going, there was a long way to go. The truth is, I didn’t play very well today from tee to green, but the putt was very sharp,” he explains.
Boneta headed straight to the practice range afterwards to hit “three or four drives.” He explained it like this: “I wasn’t comfortable all day from the tee and ended up playing a low ball, to the fade, trying to keep it on the fairway. I didn’t play well today,” he summarised. In case you didn’t know, dear reader, the Spaniard delivered a scorecard of 65 strokes, six under par, made eight birdies and positioned himself in fourth place with a total of -16, four off the lead.
He didn’t play well and scored 65 strokes. Perhaps the analysis should be precisely the opposite. What he did was play golf very well, handling himself wonderfully with the resources he had at his disposal today. For example, he gave a masterful display of short game and was very sharp with the putter. This is also playing golf. Indeed it is. That’s why we say Albert continues to prove things to himself almost without realising it.
Let’s not forget that he has been a professional for less than four months and is behaving with unusual maturity. He also has his own explanation for this. “I think it benefits me that I’ve just arrived, I don’t have the pressure of others who have been trying for years to get their card. It’s my first attempt. If I succeed, great, and if not, it’s not as bad as for others. I don’t have accumulated negative experiences and that helps me,” he states.
What is very clear is that Boneta manages well. He has his feet firmly on the ground and is much more than orderly in all facets of the game. He manages to simplify things. For now, he has already secured the Challenge Tour card for next season and the DP World Tour card is well on track, although there is still a long way to go. He has a four-stroke margin over the 20th position.
Whatever happens in these 36 holes, Boneta will continue to set himself two tasks before starting to play and will end up satisfied if he has fulfilled them, regardless of what his scorecard says.
