Adrián Otaegui (-18) has conquered this Sunday the Volvo China Open. It’s his fifth victory on the DP World Tour. All are important, but it’s undeniable that some have more value than others. Today’s at the Hidden Grace Golf Club in Shenzhen is worth its weight in gold. It’s a monument to the gift of opportunity.
It was the last chance to qualify for the PGA Championship, the second Major of the season, and Otaegui has squared the circle. Only winning and waiting for other results was enough. Bingo. His triumph has catapulted him to third place in the Asian Swing, the mini order of merit that made up the Porsche Singapore Classic, Hero Indian Open, ISPS Handa Championship and the Volvo China Open, which offered three places for the PGA to the top three. He has surpassed Jesper Svensson, who finished fourth 16.9 points behind the Spaniard. The Nordic needed to get into the top 10 to have avoided the sorpasso and he finished seventeenth.
In addition, this victory places Otaegui on the threshold of the world top 100, so he could also have entered the PGA this way, and gives him a huge boost in the battle to qualify for the Olympic Games in Paris. What Adrián did today in China is a triple somersault with a twist. Score: 10.
Otaegui’s execution has been fabulous. He has displayed high school golf in the last round of a tournament that had to be reduced to 54 holes due to the storms that hit the field on Saturday and forced the cancellation of the round. He has delivered a card of 65 strokes, with seven birdies and no bogey, to recover the five he was behind Sebastian Soderberg. He played like the angels from tee to green and made the crucial putts.
The golfer from Goiburu has been a sledgehammer from start to finish. By the 9th hole, he had already made his particular declaration of intentions. He was going for the win. He signed a partial of four under and got fully into the battle for victory. But the key was not to stop stepping on the accelerator, as there were many players with options: Soderberg, Guido Migliozzi, Joel Girrbach, Paul Waring and Lloyd Jefferson Go. Adrián kept pushing and, above all, putting pressure.
He believed in victory even when it seemed impossible. A birdie from Sobergerg on the 13th hole, who came to China with two consecutive second places in India and Japan, put him two strokes ahead and five holes to go. The Swede had it in his hand. But he started having problems from the tee, a weakness he had not shown all week. He missed the tee shot on the 15th. He didn’t go into the water by a miracle, you could even say he was lucky, but he couldn’t avoid the bogey.
Meanwhile, Otaegui, after making a birdie on the 13th, hit one of the shots of the week. It was a 4 iron on the 16th, par 3. Anthological. He brushed the hole in one and left it less than two meters for birdie. He put it in. That two-stroke dance put the Spaniard in the lead for the first time in the week tied at -17 with Soderberg and Migliozzi, who also made a birdie on the 16th by sinking an incredible putt. Waring, Girrbach and Go had already fallen out of the equation.
Everything would be decided in the last two holes, especially in the 17th. Before, Soderberg had saved an exceptional par putt on the 16th, from about eight meters. Three players tied and two holes to play. Otaegui pulled out a textbook birdie on the 17th, catching the green of this par 5 in two after a sublime 3 wood. Two putts and -18. For the first time in the week he was leading alone. And he was pressing. Boy, was he pressing…
Migliozzi said goodbye to his options after sending the ball into the water from the green bunker on the 17th. Lethal bogey. He dropped to -16, two behind Otaegui and with one hole to go. Meanwhile, Soderberg, with many problems, also catching the bunker in two like Migliozzi, pulled off an impressive birdie with another putt of about seven meters from the antegreen. Tied with Adrián.
Otaegui signed the par without major troubles on the 18th and the tournament was left in the hands of Soderberg who was coming from behind. He needed the par to go to the playoff, with a birdie he won and with a bogey or worse he gave the victory to the Spaniard. But the Swede missed again from the tee and this time he wasn’t so lucky. He closed the ball to the left and went into the jungle. He had to drop with a penalty and buried his options. Double bogey to finish third, behind champion Otaegui and Migliozzi, who finished with a birdie on the 18th.
Sensational victory for Otaegui, the first for Spanish golf on the DP World Tour this season. The Basque player once again shows that he has a killer soul. He handles himself very smoothly in moments of maximum pressure. His attitude, always calm and under control, is an example to follow.
