Neither PGA Tour nor Open Championship. The performance of the Spanish golfers at the DP World Tour Championship that concluded this Sunday at the Jumeirah Golf in Dubai cannot be considered particularly good.
All four arrived with chances, better for the second than the first objective, but it was not to be. Jorge Campillo came closest to qualifying for the British at Royal Portrush through the Race to Dubai. The top 25 in the ranking earned a spot, and the golfer from Norba finished in 27th place. He was really just two strokes short.
The reality is that he was very close, especially if we analyse his long game. The driver worked wonderfully. Not only did he hit many fairways during the week, but he also drove long, as shown by the distance statistics, placing him among the top 15 in the tournament. He only missed one green in the 18 holes and hit some exceptional second shots, like the 3-iron on the 14th hole, a par 5 where he three-putted, the 5-iron on the 17th, four metres from the hole, or the superb 3-wood on the 18th that left him an eagle putt of less than six metres.
Campillo left many birdie opportunities on the course. He had magnificent chances in the first six holes of the day, three of them from two metres or less, as well as on the 11th, 14th, and the aforementioned 17th. Not all of them will drop, but with two more that had fallen, he would have been among the top 25 in the Race to Dubai and, therefore, would have already secured his ticket for the Open. Ultimately, it was not to be. He was watching until the last moment what Joaco Niemann would do, in particular. The Chilean had a rather inconsistent day but managed to stay among the top 25. He did secure the Open, a relief for a player who doesn’t have many chances to get into the Majors due to his association with LIV Golf.
Campillo (-4) finished with a scorecard of 70 strokes, with three birdies on the back nine and a solitary bogey and eight pars on the front nine. It can definitely be said that the putter left Jorge, at least this week, without qualification for the British. He finishes the Race to Dubai as the best Spaniard in 27th place.
The player from Cáceres was not, however, the best Spanish player in this Dubai Final. That credit goes to Adrián Otaegui (-7). The player from San Sebastián finished thirteenth alone with a final scorecard of 71 strokes. He played all four days under par, but it was not enough to get into the Open or secure a PGA Tour card. He finishes the Race to Dubai in 34th place.
It was not a great Sunday for Nacho Elvira (PAR), who finished with a round of 73 strokes, heavily marked by those four bogeys in the last five holes of his first nine, nor for Ángel Hidalgo (+10). The player from Málaga arrived in Dubai as the only Spaniard with a spot in the Open, but he ended up dropping out after a poor week. He finished by watching the clock, although at least he closed the season with three birdies in the last five holes.
