Javier Barcos already knows what it feels like to win as a professional. This Monday, he triumphed at the Alps Tour in New Giza to lift his first major title. Upon arriving in Estella at midday on Tuesday, with his suitcases still unpacked, he answers a call from Ten Golf. He admits he is very tired. He left the hotel in Egypt at 23:20 at night and barely got any sleep on the two flights he took.
“Right now, the joy overcomes everything. I’m tired, but very happy. It’s my first victory as a professional, and achieving it so early in the season is an extra boost of confidence. I knew I had the level to achieve it, and I’m very happy,” says the 23-year-old player.
Javier Barcos faces his first full season as a professional in 2025 after making the leap last September. The Navarrese returned in June after five years studying in the United States, at Utah Athletics, and made the leap to professionalism. Last summer, he had time to debut in the Challenge Tour, achieving a great 12th place in Sweden and missing two cuts (Switzerland and Czech Republic). Additionally, he passed the first stage of the DP World Tour School and was close to advancing to the final stage.
“In those Challenge tournaments, I realised how good the players are at approaching. When they have a birdie chance and are less than a hundred metres away, they don’t miss. They go all out. I realised I needed to work on that. It’s what I’ve been doing these last six months, and I believe it’s the key to this week’s victory.”
Despite only being a professional for six months, Javier estimates he has been living like one for many years. “If there’s one thing my coach in Utah made clear, it’s that I wasn’t a professional simply because I couldn’t be, but that my whole life should behave as if I already were. I tend to be forgetful, and I’m working hard on discipline and schedule.” Work ethic and winning mentality: “Where I usually train, there’s no one aspiring to be a professional, and there they instilled in me a way of seeing things. I also had a great coach and a lot of people I could turn to whenever I needed.”
However, the boy from Estella has returned home and has no intention of moving. He has been away for seven years (two at BLUME and five in Utah) and wants to enjoy his people and family. The task is not easy as it requires him to travel 50 minutes from his home to train with David Valls in Logroño. He’s comfortable, and if there are no changes, he wants to continue like this for now. There is one caveat: “Maybe next year I’ll do a month of pre-season in Andalusia. With the frost and cold, it’s hard to train well. I haven’t decided, but it probably makes sense to go south for a few weeks,” Barcos confesses.
He continues in his Navarra, but with high goals. Very high. The Spaniard doesn’t shy away. At 23, he is clear about the steps he wants to take in his career: “This year, the goal is to get the Challenge card; in three or four seasons, I’d like to see myself established on the European Tour.” The young player has no shortage of aspirations, yet he thinks quite big: “My dream is undoubtedly to be World Number One; I think it’s the greatest thing that could happen to me, and if I have to choose a Major, I’d definitely go for the Masters; I love that tournament. Many friends tell me I should dream of the Open, but for me, Augusta is the greatest.” It’s said quickly, but the young player from Estella dreams big. “What I love about Rory is the consistency he has. I started playing when he won his four Majors, and I love it. It’s incredible how every week he plays, he’s always at the top. It’s hard to see him miss cuts or not fight for victories.”
Javier knows that this great ideal is built step by step: “This year, I have to focus on the Alps Tour. I’ll play all the tournaments except one that coincides with the Challenge de España, and I’m excited to play it. I’ll play some more tournaments on the HotelPlanner Tour, and hopefully, I can achieve some good results there too.”
Regarding his game, Barcos is clear: “I consider myself a guy who misses very little. I like challenging courses because it’s hard for me to miss a fairway by much. I’m not a player who makes very few, and although I did yesterday, it’s rare for me to make a double bogey. I’m not a big hitter; I really like approaching, and I consider the 60-degree wedge my favourite club. I enjoy putting a lot, and I think I’m good at calculating speed and force, but I struggle to read the breaks,” he admits humbly.
Returning to what happened on Monday in Egypt, he recounts how he experienced the decisive day. He started as co-leader. “I started quite calmly, more than I expected; in fact, I made four consecutive birdies, but it’s true that as the day went on, I got more nervous. On the 16th, I made a calculation error; I made a mistake by trying to approach the flag when I should have played long to the back of the green and seen if I could save par or secure a bogey. I pushed too much; the ball didn’t finish climbing the first tier of the green towards the flag and rolled back twenty metres.” He made a double bogey and lost all the advantage he had over the Frenchman Debove.
In fact, he admits this mistake threw him off. “I managed to save the last two holes with two pars to go to the playoff, but I was really angry with myself, not for the shot itself, but for the decision to make that shot. In those two holes, I couldn’t regain my focus. Once I saved par on the 18th, I changed my mindset. I settled there, accepted what had happened, and reminded myself how well I had played these weeks. Focus, you have plenty of game, I reset and tried to concentrate on each shot 100%.”
He did it brilliantly with a good drive and a magical second shot: “I was 127 metres away with some wind from right to left. As soon as I hit it, I knew it was good, really good, and I left it just a few centimetres away. All the Spanish players were on the green and started shouting like crazy. I think that also helped my rival feel a bit more pressure, and he couldn’t make the birdie I had made, and I took the victory.”
From Egypt 2025 to Ulzama 2006. This is the first major professional milestone, but Javier doesn’t forget how he started playing. When my grandfather left the restaurant he had and retired, he started playing golf at Ulzama, which is more than an hour from my house. That’s how golf entered my family. My first balls were with my grandfather when I was just five or six years old.” Jesus Mari can be very proud to see his grandson already starting to triumph at the big table.
