Luis has fought like a lion and not even a single putt has gone in. I’ve been unable to help him on the greens and I take the blame for the bogey on the 13th because he hit a spectacular 2-iron from the tee, he had a second shot with a 54-degree and I gave him a line that was too aggressive. You couldn’t miss on the left, I gave him a terrible line and he ended up in a hole when there were 10 meters of green on the right. It hurt like a stab wound.
Having said that, I couldn’t be happier about the cut he has made. It was a struggle to see if the +6 would make it. I suffered like a dog, like never before, and I’m very happy. Luis has no limits. He’s going to be so good! I love that he made the cut so that he can show how good he is, it’s just a matter of believing in himself a bit more. And he deserves this cut because the course was very, very tough and we had to deal with all the wind from the start. It started blowing very hard on the 11th fairway and we had no respite.
He deserves the cut because from the 13th hole onwards he hit all the shots as he should. He played like a damn clock. Spectacular. With the wind in favour it wasn’t easy to get close and it’s true that we didn’t leave ourselves clear opportunities. The closest one was on the par 3, the 14th, about three meters, and from those distances, six and seven meters, it’s hard to get in. In the first nine he hit very good putts that touched the edge and didn’t want to go in.
It was tough. Just after finishing, still unsure if the +6 was going to make it or not, I was very upset. It’s incredible how it affects you. It’s tough because you can’t do anything, it’s a tremendous frustration and helplessness, it’s different and unusual for me. Nothing can be reproached to Luis, he had a very good attitude, he got angry at some point, of course, and so did I, but he was immense.
I know he says I helped him a lot and I’m glad, but this is like everything, you always remember the bad things, as a player and as a caddie too. It’s not easy. Luis hits it hard. Club selection is very difficult. I have to see the course in a different way than I usually do. It’s not the same as caddying for someone who hits like I do. You have to transform your way of seeing it. You have to adapt to his game. And how heavy this bag is. From the ninth second every step was torture. And that’s the small bag, but today we had everything inside, the raincoats, the towels, everything…
Caddie stuff that teaches you how difficult this position is. An example: the putt on the 16th. Six meters uphill. Makeable. He saw it from right to left and that the wind was holding it and I saw it the other way around, from left to right precisely because of the wind, but since he was seeing the falls better I didn’t dare to say anything. Indeed it fell from right to left, but how am I going to say anything with what we’ve been through. He hit a perfect putt, but it didn’t go in. How difficult it is to know when to speak and when to be quiet. It’s the biggest difficulty.
But I’m very happy. Cut passed and ready for the weekend. To continue learning, enjoying, competing and showing how good he is.
*Gonzalo Fernández Castaño is Luis Masaveu’s coach and his caddie this week at the Open
