Iván Cantero finished the fourth round of the ISPS Handa Championship by sinking a good birdie putt from a metre and a half at hole 18. One of those ‘hinge’ birdies in any player’s season, as it allowed him to climb to the third final place, where the points and money distributed are much more substantial.
It is not surprising, therefore, that the Asturian player raised his fist at that moment and did so with passion, almost with anger.
However, behind that fist there was more than a top 5 or a top 3 in the final classification, with all that this entails. That gesture, almost of anger, we insist, was also the expressive way of venting after having a hard time in the second half of the course and coming out unscathed, something he could only achieve thanks to a good attitude on the field. “I put on my work suit because it was what was needed and that is one of the improvements that are also being made in my game,” he explained to Tengolf shortly after finishing the round.
If one opens Cantero‘s card, one only sees that he signed seven pars and two birdies for the second nine holes of the demanding and beautiful Gotemba course, which at first glance does not lead one to think of a suffered or tight stretch. But the player’s account reveals the reality. “From the third or fourth hole the wind picked up and the day became very difficult, because in a course with so many trees the direction was very changeable, a bit crazy. And especially for the second nine holes it was a very, very fought round, constantly pulling off recoveries”. The facts speak for themselves:
– At hole 10 he saved par by sinking a two-metre putt.
– At hole 11 he saved par again after sinking a metre and a half putt.
– At hole 12 he went to the trees off the tee and could only get it to the fairway, from where he left himself a five-metre option to save par… And he converted it.
– At hole 13, another putt of about two metres to save par.
– At 15, a breather, sinking a birdie putt, also from about two metres.
– And at 17, more fatigue: he sank a putt from about four metres away to save par. Quite a walk on the tightrope. And quite a demonstration of patience and good attitude on the field, virtues that have not always adorned Cantero’s career. Given what we’ve seen, that angry fist at 18, finishing the job in the best way, with a birdie, is probably better understood.
