Luis Masaveu sunk an eight-metre putt to fulfil a dream. When talent is overflowing, you can afford certain luxuries. For example, fulfilling dreams at just 21 years old. He sunk it at Royal Cinque Ports, just a week ago, but he remembers it as if it just happened. He still gets goosebumps.
That putt helped him qualify for the Open Championship at Royal Troon. His first Major. The dream. At Royal Cinque Ports 104 years ago, Ángel de la Torre became the first Spaniard to play a Major. More goosebumps, more hairs standing on end. History with a capital H. In that same place where it all began, for the first time two Spanish amateurs qualify to play a Major. Jaime Montojo, Luis’s partner and friend, was right there, with his freshly earned qualification, watching that memorable putt.
“Phew, when I finished I couldn’t believe it. Little by little it’s sinking in, but I’m still excited, very happy, delighted. I’m going to fulfil a dream and I’m sure it will be an incredible experience,” Masaveu tells Ten Golf from Italy, where he is competing in the European Championship this week. By the way, looking for, with Jaime among others, the third consecutive gold for Spain in this tournament and the fifth in the last ten years.
To savour even more the experience of playing the Open, Masaveu will have in his bag a certain Gonzalo Fernández Castaño. Quite something. The Madrid-born player has competed in seven British Opens in his career, the first shortly after turning professional, at just 25 years old. He is the ideal person, as well as being his coach, to guide him in this special week. However, what no one can take away from Luis is the fact of having passed the Open qualifier with his father in his bag. Whatever happens in Troon, that memory will be unforgettable.
The truth is that Luis was not entirely confident before starting the qualifier. His results this year have not been bad, in fact he won in Portugal at the beginning of the season, but he felt that he was struggling to make few, something that is almost always a prerequisite in a qualifier. Moreover, as if that were not enough, he did not play at Royal Cinque Ports with his usual clubs. They got lost on the return from Denmark, where he played the Individual European Championship the week before, and he had to quickly put together a new set with some old clubs he had at home.
He had everything against him and the start was not exactly encouraging, with two bogeys in the first five holes and not feeling comfortable with the driver. However, everything clicked on hole 7. Specifically, with a great shot with the 46 degrees that left him two palms from the hole. “I hit a great shot and everything changed. I started to make better swings and gradually gained confidence from the tee. I wasn’t sinking many putts, but I felt comfortable, I was hitting them well, it was just a matter of them going to the hole,” he explains.
Interestingly, again on the 7th, in the second round, he hit another great drive and a spectacular second shot to leave himself the birdie made. This time it was a 56 degrees. There won’t be a Masaveu plaque on hole 7 of Royal Cinque Ports, after all it was an Open qualifier, but the Spanish golfer will never forget that hole.
Then came the putt. Yes, the eight-metre one. The dream one. It was in the playoff. Three players for one spot. He played it with Jamie Rutherford and Branden Grace, the only player in history to have shot 62 in an Open. “They left it closer to the hole than me and I knew that either I sunk it or I was going home. That’s how I approached that putt. It was quite complicated because it fell a lot from right to left and was very downhill, but I saw it well and it went in. Amazing. Then they missed and I was in the Open”. The dream.
His father has a significant share in this qualification. They understand each other well. He doesn’t have to talk much, just distract him from time to time and resolve any doubts when necessary. In England he was sharp. “He calms me down and helps me with the mental aspect,” says Masaveu.
Luis is clear that the Open will be something else. Nothing he has seen before. “Gonzalo is my coach and I know he’s going to help me a lot. We’re going to have as much fun as we can and, above all, learn. I know the bunkers will be harder and the rough higher, Gonzalo is going to help me a lot,” he points out. In addition to the seven-time DP World Tour champion, Luis’s team includes Javier del Carmen for the mental aspect, Ramón Rivero for the short game, José Mata as physio and Javier Ferrato as doctor. Ricardo Relinque, his agent, is the one who makes sure Luis doesn’t have to worry about anything but golf.
Masaveu will also be able to get a thorn out of his side in Troon in a week’s time. The first and last time he was there he couldn’t play because the weather was very bad. He thinks it was in 2015, although he’s not very sure. It was during a year he studied and played golf in Scotland, specifically in Edinburgh. Surely some friends from that time will come to Troon this year to see him play. This time, bad weather will not serve as an excuse to play the Open.
Masaveu likes links. “I’ve played them a lot and I would say it’s not my style of play, but I get along with them. I’ve played them well. I’ve finished second in the Lytham Trophy, I’ve made cuts in the British Amateur, I like them,” he says. What he wants to fine-tune from here to next week is reading the falls on the greens, although it won’t be precisely because of the putt that made all this possible…
