Nacho Elvira leaves the 11th hole after saving a par that makes you hold your breath. He had to sink a two-metre putt, although it feels like ten given everything that’s happened in the last hour. After gaining a three-shot lead with imperial golf from 1 to 7, he bogeys the 8th, perhaps due to an excess of adrenaline or ambition, another falls on the 9th, he sends it into the water on the 10th with a very unusual shot that wasn’t in any equation, and misses the tee shot on the next hole, with the added difficulty of the ball being badly placed.
All this together makes for a horror movie. The leaderboard has tightened to the limit and there’s a legion pushing through. Be it Shane Lowry, Rory McIlroy, Daniel Hillier, David Puig, Marcus Armitage… It’s a drama. That’s how it’s being experienced on the other side of the ropes, except for Martina and Claudia. They look happily at their father because he’s close, because he promised them they’d have ‘chocolate’ tonight, and because he just gave them a packet of their favourite biscuits. He carried them in the bag to recharge during the round, but truly nothing fills more than your daughters’ smiles. By the way, they’re behaving wonderfully. Martina keeps singing, but quietly, as if she had the golf etiquette rules tattooed on her. Claudia, on the other hand, is bravely dealing with mouth sores and a tooth coming through. Nothing that can’t be fixed with biscuits. The champions have completed 16 holes.
Elvira leaves the 11th green and approaches his family. It seems the girls take after their father in this, as they don’t see drama anywhere either. He takes it with humour. A perfect display of the extraordinary moment of personal and sporting maturity he’s going through. “Well, let’s see if we can get off this ghost train and get back to playing golf,” he says with a laugh. Manu Elvira, his brother, who quickly came from hitting some balls at the Emirates Golf Club, where he joins the Armada next week for the Desert Classic, to follow the last nine holes, applauds his attitude. Although he does it internally. Very Manu.
Dylan Frittelli is Nacho’s stellar playing partner. He’s a player with a stern, stoic expression, always hidden behind sunglasses that seem part of his face. Has anyone ever seen his eyes? He really seems straight out of the series V. At any moment, he’s going to peel off his face and reveal a lizard. Excuse the old reference.
Frittelli is amazed by Nacho’s attitude, his laughter every time he approaches his daughters, his funny comments. Even when the man from Santander shouts at the top of his lungs “there goes the round” after hitting the ball into the water on the 10th. He doesn’t understand a thing. Much less when immediately after, when it seems the chain has definitely come off, he hits one of the best shots of the day (there are several) and saves par with a sensational three-metre putt.
The ghost train thing has worked. Nacho regains the rhythm of the round. He resumes order and control. He hits one good shot after another, just like in the first third of the round. The 12th hole calms him. Ah, this is what it was, he seems to say. However, the tournament is different. Now it’s time to win it head-on, from behind, and on each side only bulls appear. Worried? Maybe, but it doesn’t seem so.
He hits the third shot on the 13th, par 5, leaves a good birdie chance, and approaches the ropes again. “Some big guns have joined the fight, haven’t they?” he says to his team, referring, among others, to McIlroy, who has done everything in his power to lose the tournament and still manages to reach the last hole with a chance. More credit to Nacho. Just as he comments, the applause from the 15th is heard. Lowry has sunk an eight-metre putt and taken the solo lead. Nacho, for the first time this Sunday, is not in the lead. Martina and Claudia don’t know what their father means by the metaphor when he says big guns, but they don’t care because they see him smiling.
From there, Elvira does everything he can to win the tournament. And he does it well. On the 14th, a par 3 that provokes migraines, he makes two good putts for par from a distance. On the 15th and 16th, he leaves two good birdie chances, but they slip away. Damn lip-outs. The good thing is the irons are hot. Just ask the 8-iron. With it, he hits the shot of the tournament. Hole 17. Leaves it two metres for birdie and sinks it.
He takes the lead again because Shane Lowry has messed up on the 18th hole. He sends it to the back bunker with the second shot from the first cut of rough. Not only can’t he make the recovery, but he ends up in the water on the other side, the escape was very difficult. Double bogey. His face is a poem. He hasn’t won an individual tournament since 2022.
Elvira still has to finish the job. The 18th hole is no candy. McIlroy just bogeyed and Lowry… well, you’ve seen what he did. He plays it by the book. Textbook drive to the centre of the fairway and yes, of course, another 8-iron to five metres from the flag on the right. Two putts and victory. Martina and Claudia are startled by the noise, but quickly smile again. Because their father is smiling and there’s a lot of people hugging him. Something good must have happened.
Indeed. Nacho escaped the ghost train in time to achieve his biggest and most emotional victory.
