Putt to win the tournament. Everything trembles. You know it. You follow it on the Golf Directo app. If you hole it, you qualify for the National Final. If you miss it, there’ll be another year. It’s a penalty. For you it’s the World Cup final
You’ve just hit an incredible shot. Second shot on a par 5. Hole 1 at Golf Santander. Picture-perfect. You leave it on the edge of the green. Your partner, who is called Carlos, like you, bumps fists and congratulates you with that Asturian accent he hasn’t lost despite many years in Seville winning and losing beers in equal measure at el Real
From that edge of the green, the other Carlos, the Asturian one, a left-hander to boot, rolls a good putt, although it comes up a little short. It’s just under two metres to the hole. It’s your turn again. This is a team effort. If you want to travel to the final at La Hacienda Golf Links Resort it has to be a two-person job. You’ve just missed a couple of short putts that you can’t get out of your head. Besides, you’re the lower handicap, so you’re supposed to make that, you don’t want to think it, but somehow your brain does a jink, tricks you and whispers: your partner expects you to hole it…
And you miss, of course. And the world collapses on you. And you think how could I miss that when out of every 100 I hit like that I can make 97. But of course, circumstances are what they are. If Rory McIlroy or Sergio García miss, how isn’t Carlos going to miss, however good you are. It’s the pressure, mate. Welcome to the Audi quattro Cup, the amateur circuit with the most history in Spain, the most prestigious, where competition rules. Where you feel like a professional because of moments like that
It is the West Territorial Final and the story we want to tell has only just begun
The two Carloses have missed the putt to win. They’ve opened the door to other pairs. Specifically, to the Frenchmen from Retamares, Aurelien and Thibault. They’re still amazed at how they managed to take the second shot virtually onto the green. They putt from the closely cut grass and leave themselves a one-metre, just over, putt for birdie. If they hole it, thanks to the Carloses, they win the tournament…
They miss it. The ball doesn’t even touch the hole. They barely struck it and it died below the hole from the start. A poor putt. What’s the matter, can’t they putt? Not at all, they’re handicaps 0.5 and 4. They putt beautifully, but here they’re playing for the victory. And not in just any tournament, no. It’s the Territorial Final of the Audi quattro Cup. It’s a pass to the big National Final at La Hacienda, with a stay at the wonderful Fairmont hotel overlooking the Peñón
Both had missed and, suddenly, Chico and Borja, who come from Norba, Extremadura, have the chance to win the tournament on the 18th hole, another par 5. Again, a great third shot from Borja leaves it just over two metres. It’s Chico’s chance to be crowned. He has no choice. He has to hole it to qualify for the Final, otherwise, there’ll be another year. And he misses it too… It doesn’t touch the hole. That’s golf. That’s life. How many times will he have holed that same putt in Norba. The thing is that this putt had nothing to do with all the ones he’d struck before. It’s the pressure. It’s the competition. It’s the fear of letting your friend, your partner, your teammate down. That’s the Audi quattro Cup and its greensome format and why every year it’s the most played circuit in Spain
Finally, more emotion is impossible, the tournament ends in a three-way tie in the scratch category, that of the best. Los Carlos win the Scratch and the First Handicap Category. As the latter takes precedence, they go to the National Final as First Handicap Category, and the second pair go as Scratch. They are the Frenchmen Aurelien and Thibault. Competition has given them a second chance. Or rather, Chico and Borja. They, the Extremadurans, are left without a prize. They have the lowest handicap and the tiebreak in Scratch favours the higher ones. There’ll be another time. A beautiful spectacle. It’s not the DP World Tour, but the glory and the drama are felt with almost the same intensity
The rest of the finalists for the West Territorial are as follows:
Second Category: Iván Jiménez and Marta Lorenzo.
Third Category: Javier Martínez de la Fuente and José Luis Fernández.
Audi Clients: Miguel Ángel Garzón and Teodoro Lobato.
