Jordan Gumberg (-12) has starred this week in another one of those stories that can practically only happen in high-level golf, winning the SDC Championship, a tournament of the DP World Tour; not certainly an important date in his calendar, but from the European circuit in all respects. The 28-year-old American player, with a decent professional record, although discreet, and currently in the ranks of the Challenge Tour, signed a last card of 68 strokes at the St. Francis Links and managed to get into a play off for the victory against South African Robin Williams, to win it on the second tie-break hole with a birdie that has certainly changed his life.
The things that have to happen for such a fact to occur. For example, that you receive an invitation to play a tournament in which you do not have entry, as it happened. What a way to take advantage of such an invitation. And let’s not forget that Williams, the young 22-year-old South African who lost in the tiebreak, signed a double bogey on hole 17, the 71st of the tournament, when he was almost savouring what would also have been his first victory on the DP World Tour. In any case, what Gumberg has basically done is to play very solid golf, taking better advantage than others of the playing conditions this Sunday, probably the simplest of the whole week, with a little less wind and the greens a little softer due to the water that fell during the night and, at times, during the day itself.
Gumberg, who last year got into the Challenge Final by the skin of his teeth, has managed to chain four rounds under par three times in his short career in European golf. One of them, this week, has earned him his first win. Another served him to finish second in last year’s Irish Challenge, his best result until today, and another to make the cut in the School Final… Before making the leap to Old Europe he really hadn’t stood out in the United States and in this 2024 his results were not being good either, but now there will be no choice but to monitor his evolution. Until today, Gumberg had been characterized as a very irregular player, who had a hard time putting together three or four good rounds in the same week, but his career has taken a 180-degree turn and he is now a full-fledged player in the first division. These are the wonderful surprises that this blessed sport provides.
Adri Arnaus (-4) has finally been the best Spanish player of the week, despite that 74 on Sunday that took him away from the hot zone of the table. The Catalan could even have gotten into the fight for victory, as evidenced by the fact that Gumberg was marching in his same match on this same day, but he paid dearly for some mistakes in the last third of the round. Be that as it may, the final twentieth place is his best result of a 2024 in which he was not finding his best version, something that has happened this week in numerous phases of the tournament.
