Julien Guerrier (-21) has claimed the Estrella Damm Andalucía Masters after defeating Jorge Campillo (-21) on the ninth hole of a playoff as long as it was intense. In the end, a bogey by the Spaniard on that ninth attempt, after missing the tee shot on the 18th hole at the Real Club de Golf Sotogrande, handed the Frenchman his first victory on the European circuit (they had to play the 18th hole six times and the 17th three times to break the tie that the scoreboard showed after the required 72 holes).
How difficult it is to win a golf tournament. Guerrier had to play 230 events on the DP World Tour to finally claim victory. And what a rare coincidence: Campillo also won for the first time in his 229th tournament. They’ve almost matched the number. Now the Spaniard has already played 372 and was close to adding a fourth victory, which sooner or later will come, because there’s not a year when this guy doesn’t give himself several opportunities.
French golf is surely completing the best season in its history, riding the wave, or replicating the dynamic, of the extraordinary success on both sides of the Atlantic by Matthieu Pavon. And Guerrier, a player who, until now, barely had any runner-up finishes in his record (just one until now), has just jumped on that runaway train. He played well, putted with finesse throughout the week and, why not say it, in the moment of truth, the last nine holes on Sunday, he also had that good luck a champion needs. He had it on the 10th hole, hitting a very bad tee shot and finding a ball that normally isn’t found, almost suspended on a wall. And he had it again on the 16th, where his ball nearly went into the water. In short, surely good old Julien could also recount other moments, perhaps this very week, when the fairies laughed at him.
Yes, how difficult it is to win a high-level golf tournament. Precisely, Guerrier today completes a list of 600 players who have at least won once on the European circuit. Of these 600, 258 have only managed or have managed to date to win just once.
How complicated it is to finish. Campillo‘s roadmap had been immaculate for 65 holes, which he played consecutively without making a single bogey, which is quickly said, and adding up to 22 birdies and an eagle. The first mistake came on the 12th hole, a par 5, of this last round, where he sent the ball into the water trying to reach the green with the second shot. The man from Cáceres, as he pointed out minutes after his defeat was confirmed, feels that he lost the tournament in that final stretch of the round. It’s normal for him to think so, because on the 15th hole the second bogey fell and, worse still, another one on the 18th, a blot that led him straight to the playoff, although for that Guerrier still had to save par by sinking a putt of more than four metres.
Blessed golf: 65 holes without errors on the scorecard and then three fall in the last seven. How complicated it is to finish. The Spaniard still had a couple of clear opportunities to tip the balance in his favour during the playoff, but his putts, well struck, were too soft.
At times, Daniel Brown (-19), the third member of the leading group on Sunday, alongside the Spaniard and the Frenchman, got into the fight with four consecutive birdies between holes 11 and 14, although a mistake on the 16th left him out of play. Jon Rahm (-17) also tried to get into the fight, never quite casting his shadow long enough over the favourites. A bogey on the 16th for the man from Barrika definitively aborted a mission that by then had already become almost impossible.
Jorge is not travelling to Korea this week. He’s already been competing for quite a few weeks in a row. But he doesn’t need much time to lick his wounds. He doesn’t usually spend too long on those tasks. We’ll see him back in the fight soon. And surely it won’t be long before we see him competing for a win again. It’s always been that way since he joined this wonderful circus.
