Any golf enthusiast hoping for a victory from Nacho Elvira this Sunday at the Dubai Invitational started rubbing their hands together when they saw the masterful tee shot from the Cantabrian on the 18th hole. Flis, flas. Shot to the centre of the green, two putts, and the trophy in the bag. These guys are very good, and they won’t mess it up from there. However, more than one person’s heart sank when they saw the ball leave the club. Direct to the flag and opening up. With water on the right. Suspense. It bounced right on the edge of the green and slowly slid towards the water. It never really had a real danger of going into the lake, but don’t think it was that far off…
More than one person might wonder why there was a need to take such a risk. Why not aim for the centre of the green and play it safe? Here’s the explanation. First, because aiming for the centre of the green and playing it safe with your heart rate through the roof isn’t that simple. And second, for an even more important reason: Nacho Elvira had no idea that Shane Lowry had made a double bogey on the 18th. “The last time I looked at the leaderboard was on the 16th, and he was at -10. What I aimed for was to give myself a birdie chance. Of course, I didn’t want to risk the par, but at least have a chance to finish -11,” he tells Ten Golf.
Obviously, Nacho didn’t intend for his ball to end up between the flag and the water. The ideal plan for the shot was about three metres to the left of the pin, but it opened up more than expected. It’s precisely after hitting the shot that Nacho walks a few metres down the fairway of the 18th hole and turns to see the leaderboard on the giant screen floating over the lake, which is positioned facing the back tent of the final green. “Blimey, and Lowry? If I have two putts to win…” he says to himself upon realising. It’s right there where he gets more nervous, when he sees it so close. He’s only human.
Interestingly, Nacho Elvira wins the Dubai Invitational by hitting two 8-irons to finish. Each in its own way. It’s worth explaining the process to give even more value to the shots and the decisions made jointly by the player and his caddie David Morago. On the 17th, they have 132 metres to a flag on the left… with water on the left. “A touch with the 8-iron two metres to the right of the hole is perfect.” Nacho executes, it closes a bit more than intended and ends up two metres, yes, but to the left of the hole. Between the flag and the water. The rest is history…
Then, when they measure on the 18th, they discover they have 140 metres to the flag. Morago is clear. Another 8-iron. Falling slightly short of the flag is no problem because it’s an uphill putt, and he calculates that with the adrenaline, it might come out a bit stronger. They nail it. Great shot that, again, goes a bit more to the right than intended, but it’s more than enough to win the tournament.
Make no mistake. If Nacho had known that Lowry had made a double bogey, his ball would never have ended up to the right of the flag on the 18th. These are the small details that aren’t seen and can decide tournaments. It’s competition from the inside.
