If haste makes waste, what about nerves? Calmness and good food. Balance. We must park the rush and have faith in the work. Step by step and we will see the evaluation at the end of the course. In these times of rushing, with the tongue out, and without coldly analysing the situation, it seems more necessary than ever to be calm and not lose composure. Resort to temper, throw it to the ground.
This is the philosophy that Iván Cantero clings to after a grey start to the season on his return to the DP World Tour. Five years after his first experience at the elite level, he knows that the road is long and that there is no need to hit the panic button when there is a world ahead to prove what he firmly believes: “I am a different player, I am better than in 2019”, he assures without blinking.
“You don’t have to be very smart to know that I am not the same Iván. I got the card through the Challenge Tour and that shows that I am consistent; when I got it in 2019 I had hardly played the Challenge; then I missed the first eight cuts but that situation has nothing to do with this one”, he maintains, reaffirming his evolution in recent seasons. And the data does not lie. The Asturian, about to turn 28 in just over a month, was the second to make the most cuts (20), only behind the also Spanish Manuel Elvira, today a companion in battles on the European Circuit.
Cantero clings to this solidity, knowing that 2024 has 366 days (it’s a leap year) and that a slip at the beginning is much better than a crash at the end: “I have nothing to prove to anyone, I am the same as a month and a half ago, only that I had four bad weeks and that’s it. And, besides, the Tour is not the same as the Challenge, where even playing badly the courses allow you a little more. You have to learn from that, analyse what failed and be stronger in January than in December”, he points out.
He decided, after finishing sixteenth in the Road to Mallorca and achieving mathematical promotion to the DP World Tour, to get to work without interruption. On November 5th he was throwing his cap in the air in Alcanada with the 19 colleagues who had moved up a category and 18 days later he was teeing off to play the first tournament of the season, the Joburg Open. He has done the full opening tour, the three South African dates and the one in Mauritius, but he has not been sharp and was left out of the weekend in all of them.
“Four missed cuts, no big deal. I have 30 tournaments ahead and of course I would have liked to start better, but who says I’m going to Ras al Khaimah and win?”. That’s the attitude. Always positive. Iván has not changed anything about his equipment or his training: “There hasn’t been time. The only thing I’ve changed is my caddie; it used to be Adolfo Luna and now I’m with Diego Suazo, but it hasn’t influenced anything at all. When you’re playing badly there’s a bit of mistrust, we know what golf is like”, he says.
In any case, he is not at all worried about this start: “I insist, nobody likes to lose the first four cuts when you come from good feelings the previous season, but it has been a long year and I think it has also taken its toll to start the new course without rest, it gives you a mental slump because of all the pressure of the year. And it’s true that the swing was not very good in these four weeks, from the first day I felt quite uncomfortable in general. But I’m not worried. The season has just started, the grades are given in September, not in December, and there is a very long year with almost 30 tournaments”, he adds.
The numbers corroborate what the Asturian says, as in eight rounds he was only able to go under 73 (he shot 68) in the second round of the Joburg: “That’s the way it is, when the feelings are not good, the results are not good, you don’t have to give it more importance either. Neither when I finished the Challenge was I the best player in the world nor am I the worst now. Four bad weeks, to think and talk with my team about what failed and to prepare well for the next ones. You have to be smart, I already lived a situation in which I missed many cuts in a row when I got the Tour card and I know what it is. You have to be calm and know that in the next tournament I have another opportunity”, he underlines.
Fatigue is another factor to take into account. It has weighed heavily, and in fact he wants to work during these holidays to strengthen his physique and arrive with more stamina at the end of 2024: “Of course, there have been 28 tournaments in the Challenge plus now another four, there are many trips and competitions throughout the year. But it’s okay, now I have six weeks, because I won’t enter the first Rolex Series, to prepare myself physically and mentally, improve my swing and give it my all at the beginning of the year”, he refers.
He will relax a bit this week and the next to get back to work with enthusiasm: “My idea is to try to go to Montecastillo for a week and a half to train before starting in Ras al Khaimah and go three or four days earlier to Abu Dhabi to train there to prepare well for the tournaments. I have a couple of things in my swing that I want to improve, in addition to mental aspects to make a quality leap and physically I am working with Diego because I want to gain three kilos before starting to be a little stronger, face the tournaments better and not arrive so tired at the end of the season. These weeks I have work”, he confirms.
His plan, as in 2023, is to have a calendar full of dates. He will go to all he can. “Yes, on the Tour the tournaments are better distributed and there are quite a few more breaks, so I will play everything I can, I already did it in the Challenge and in 2024 the same. I will try to play as much as possible”, he reveals before insisting that “the grades are given in September and not in December. The important thing is not to sound the alarms, people get alarmed very quickly”. Calm on the front. Word of Cantero. Iván’s temper.
