Foolish was he who thought that Nacho Elvira (-18) would easily win the Soudal Open right after making a birdie on hole 1 to take a five-stroke lead. There was no better way to start the final round, however, that was far from being a harbinger. Quite the opposite. It was a very tough, complicated and tricky day, although the 37-year-old Cantabrian knew how to suffer and stay on his feet to conquer his second title in the DP World Tour with a final round of par.
The first three holes of Nacho were textbook, with the straightedge, playing golf exactly the same as Thursday, Friday and Saturday. But the granite version vanished from the 4th. The mistakes started, especially from the tee, but also in some second shots that put him in delicate situations. That was not going well or, at least, it was not going wonderfully. In addition, the rain appeared. Tremendous downpour over the Rinkven International Golf Club that forced to stop the game for about 20 minutes with the players not moving from the field and with the only protection of the umbrella.
The mini suspension caught Elvira on the 7th, just after missing the fairway to the right. That was indeed a harbinger. For bad, of course. From there to the end, he only took two more fairways and forced him to bring out the version with a builder’s helmet and a construction pick. On the 7th the first bogey fell and the classification tightened. Suddenly, what seemed from behind a fight for second place, changed colour. His rivals began to believe and Nacho clung to his short game and the putt to keep them at bay.
Thomas Pieters, Romain Langasque, Joe Dean, Niklas Norgaard and Sebastián García Rodríguez managed to be in the fight to win until the end, although Elvira never got to lose or share the lead. However, Pieters, Norgaard and Dean managed to get within one of the lead. More tight, impossible.
Nacho was surviving by putting many putts between one and three meters. That’s courage. It’s holding on to what one has. If the drive, for whatever reason, is not there today, you have to change the plan. The important thing is to have the resources to do it. He holed very good par putts on the 9th, 11th (for birdie), 12th and 15th. That’s how he managed to always be in the lead. The rivals were getting closer, but little by little and in turns.
First it was Dean, although as quickly as he got on Nacho’s tail, he fell, probably due to the pressure of seeing himself up there. Then it was Pieters, the one who was more scary, but two bad drives on the 17th and 18th left him out of the equation when it seemed that he was the chosen one to give the sorpasso. Finally, the one who came closest was Norgaard thanks to an incredible finish, with birdie on the 16th, eagle on the 17th and clear birdie option on the 18th. So much so that if he had holed the putt, he would have forced the playoff. But he missed it and Nacho won with a one-stroke lead over him, Pieters and Langasque.
Nacho won because he resisted and because he saved a magic trick for the end. It was on hole 17, par 5. Again, missed fairway. Again, fatigue. He could barely return it to the fairway, still far from the green, and the third shot was not good. He left it in the rough, about 30 meters short of the flag and with a bad angle. Pieters had already finished and there he was playing to go out to the 18th with a one-stroke lead or tied. Night and day. His approach shot was delicious, sublime. It deserved to go in, in fact, but it gave the hole a scare and stayed out. At least, par and solo leader with one to go.
“Hallelujah,” he said from the tee on the 18th when he saw that his ball was not going into the trees. He missed the fairway to the rough, but at least it was playable. He didn’t ask for much more from life at that moment after the scare he had had a little earlier on the 13th, when he had to throw a provisional ball because he thought he had lost it to the left. He had a good bounce. He was not the only player who has had it today, but only one could win and it was Elvira. For him, the luck of the champion.
This is Nacho’s second victory on the DP World Tour. It comes just under three years after the first, in 2021 in Wales. On that occasion, he went out with a six-stroke lead and ended up winning in the playoff. This time he decided not to make it so exciting.
In addition, great performance by Sebastián García Rodríguez (-15). The Madrid player has finished in seventh place and has taken a good bite out of the ranking in the Race to Dubai. He played this Sunday along with Pieters, great local favourite, and performed at a spectacular level. Round of 68 strokes. In fact, he was in the fight to win and surely has a little bittersweet taste because he had the second place within reach. He missed the birdie on the 17th, being two in the rough around the green, and made a bogey on the 18th after missing the tee shot. In any case, great result, it is his first top 10 in the DP World Tour in almost two years.
Ángel Hidalgo (-11) also added a good handful of points by finishing in the top 25, fighting as always every stroke, and Pablo Larrazábal, Adrián Otaegui and Santi Tarrio, all with -9, shared the 34th position. Further back finished Rafa Cabrera Bello (-7) and Manu Elvira (-7) in a very good choral performance of the Armada in Belgium.
