It had to be Pablo Larrazábal (-10) who signed the best card of the fourth day of the Hero Dubai Desert Classic on a Majlis course that was for few or no joy, with very fast, also very firm greens, and a wind that was noticeable enough to complicate even more some flag positions that were tricky in themselves. Thus, we are not exaggerating if we categorize his 66, six less on the day, as stratospheric, which has catapulted him to the fourth position. And it had to be him because it is not the first time, nor fortunately will it be the last, that this player takes advantage when the filter becomes more demanding, when conditions are tougher (only ten players have gone below 70 strokes today).
Larrazábal continues to break his own mould, to remake it again and improve it, and overcoming barriers at the tender age of 40 and around. At this point in his career he is winning more tournaments than ever, or he achieves his best result in a Rolex Series tournament, which is precisely what he has done this week. He has also improved his best record in this tournament and on this course, where he did not finish appearing on top (until today his best position was the 20th), and that he started on Thursday with a 73. However, he has been the second best during the weekend, just when the greens have taken on greater firmness and the wind has blown a little more, with a partial of -8, only behind the winner, a certain Rory McIlroy, whose accumulated in the last 36 holes went up to -11.
If we were to ask, he has been stuck with the thorn of hole 10, par 5, where he has signed three pars and one bogey. “In that hole I get to make two pars and two birdies, which would be normal, and maybe I’m fighting this week for the win,” he pointed out.
Pablo is getting a Jiménez face, the best specialist from the age of forty that the contemporary golf world has known, although for the moment the Barcelona player does not plan to let his ponytail grow. It has to do with the game, with experience, but his goes a little further. “I am at a point where I enjoy my life like never before and that shows on the golf course.”
It is curious that at this stage of his career (he has just started his 17th consecutive season on the European circuit) he is hitting the driver like never before. It is true that this week, as well as last week, he has been seen hitting unusual bombs, although today has not been his best day from the tee in terms of really letting go. “In these last ten days I have hit the driver like never before in my entire career,” he assures. So we will have to see what new ‘Larrazábal mould’ he is capable of putting together, improving on the previous one, with this new tool or resource. Whatever the case, we can be sure that he will continue to go his own way, reappearing from time to time in his full glory to give himself (and us) joy.
His end of the round reflects who he is. Impossible to get bored with this guy on the course. He made a birdie on the 17th after missing the tee and leaving the ball in a horrible position, sunk in the rough (9 iron with everything to make it fly only a hundred meters and a pure shot of more than ten meters inside). And he also made a birdie on the 18th, after being about to go into the water with the second shot, or having left it very close for an eagle. “There we had that luck you have to have, but I have to say that this week I haven’t had that much either.”
Pablo is now going to play another three weeks in a row, five in total, with tournaments in Ras Al Khaimah, Bahrain and Qatar. Will this man, who is going to get back into the top hundred in the world (around Number 89), be able to keep pushing and pushing to see if he can win a place in the Masters of Augusta, the only Major he has yet to play? It is not his priority, since he is going to be a father for the first time just in the month of April, but it is enough that it is indeed not an objective for things to start happening…
