A dog’s night was already heralding a long and hard Sunday. There was a lot at stake. The next day awaited him the best opportunity of his life to win a DP World Tour tournament. At 32, it’s something you value and that can, of course, play a bad trick on you.
Nerves turned his body into a bundle of anguish and anxiety. Falling asleep was a titanic task, much harder than driving 400 yards. At least for him, of course. To top it off, he couldn’t keep anything he ate for breakfast in his body. Closed stomach. Nausea. A bad time.
Definitely, Niklas Norgaard (-16) has not had an easy day at The Belfry. The film ended happily, with a huge victory in the Betfred British Masters, but at several moments it seemed more like a tragedy than a comedy. What a way to suffer. What a way to resist. What a way to win.
The night, the nerves, the breakfast, in short, the situation, took its toll at the beginning. He got hole 1 out of the way by putting a good par putt of just over a metre and at hole 2 he made a bogey. Everything wrong. He missed the fairway, the green, the recovery and his advantage dwindled to three. Tense face. The procession was inside and out.
Right after, at hole 3, the great Dane showed what kind of player he is. He stumbles and gets up. He suffers and resists. Par 5. Drivazo to the fairway, green and two easy putts for birdie. Action, reaction. Behind him, Thriston Lawrence (-14) was not starting and the greatest danger seemed to be Jeong Weon Ko (-11), who started with three birdies in the first four holes.
Without any fanfare from anyone at the top, beyond an outstanding Rasmus Hojgaard (-12), who from afar handed in a card of 65 strokes to finish third, Norgaard was tempering his nerves and more or less managing the tournament. He was getting pars out and Lawrence was not intimidating, although he was not falling behind and somehow everyone was waiting for him…
And he appeared. Another indigestion for Norgaard. Two consecutive birdies from the South African at holes 10 and 11 put him one stroke behind the Dane. Another bad time. Again, a discomposed face. And again, action, reaction. When it seemed that the tournament was changing hands, Norgaard put a super birdie putt at hole 12 of about nine metres while Lawrence missed a half-metre putt for par. Two-stroke turn and again with a three-stroke advantage. Another birdie at 14 from the Nordic seemed definitive. Another exceptional putt of nine metres. Incredible. Four-stroke lead and four to play. Game over.
Or not. Hole 15 stirred Norgaard’s stomach again and brought all the ghosts that haunted him the night before. He made a double bogey out of nowhere, chaining one mistake after another, offering a crash course in everything not to do from the rough around the green. It looked like a frog jumping contest. More suffering, more anguish.
What seemed done, was not. Suddenly he had only two strokes and three holes to play. And what three holes: 16, treacherous as they come, 17, a par 5 where there can be from eagle to double bogey and 18, where any high result that seems can be given. There, again, almost at the limit, Norgaard knew how to suffer, resist and win. He had a horrible time at 16. After a drivazo, he threw a very bad approach and a first putt that went two and a half metres… But he made it. He holed another crucial birdie at 17, from about four metres and played 18 with the tranquillity of having a two-stroke lead. There, at last, he did not suffer.
His tears at the end of the tournament were more than justified. “I didn’t even cry at my wedding, but this means a lot. It’s a dream since I started playing golf at ten,” he explained. Happy anguish. The importance of knowing that nerves are there and you have to deal with them as best you can. A more than deserved victory for a player who is fully in the fight for one of the ten PGA Tour cards (he is sixth in the Race to Dubai) and is approaching the top 100 in the world ranking. Another one to follow by Luke Donald and company.
As for the Spaniards, Jorge Campillo (-9) has signed a great end to the tournament, with a round of 69 strokes. He finished in sixth position, adding the fourth top 10 of Spanish golf in this dark and tortuous summer, straightening the rudder a bit. In the Race to Dubai he gets into the top 70, those who will play in Abu Dhabi, and approaches the DP World Tour Championship, with a lot still to play. He finished with six birdies and three bogeys, showing that Saturday’s was an unfortunate accident. Further back finished Ángel Hidalgo (+1), with a round of 74 strokes, and Sebas García Rodríguez (+2), with a good end of 70 strokes. Hidalgo does not vary his situation in the Race, while Sebas gets a little closer to the top 110 that keeps the card.
What Campillo did do, which was to recover from a bad Saturday, was not capable Tyrrell Hatton (-4), the big disappointment of the weekend at The Belfry. Today he handed in another card over par, 74 strokes, and finished in 18th place.
