First Win for Spaniard
Courtesy: Reuters
It was a strange path to the European Tour for Pablo Larrazabal.
Larrazabal is the young Spanish golfer who, at the age of 25, has just won his first European Tour title in only his 17th tournament.
On Sunday, exhibiting a calm that belied his rookie status, Larrazabal won the French Open in Versailles, finishing four shots ahead of Colin Montgomerie. Larrazabal had to qualify for the tournament earlier in the week.
Afterwards, Monty said "forgive me but I don't even know the winner's name. Let's just call him Pablo…"
Fair enough. Pablo lives in Barcelona and quite likely headed straight for the nearest TV after his win in France to watch Spain take on Germany in the European football championship game. Football is one of his interests as it is for just about 97 percent of Spanish men.
The Spaniard comes from a golfing family. His brother, Alejandro, won the British Amateur title in 2002 and his father, Gustavo, once played for Venezuela in the World Cup of Golf.
So why was his path to professional golf strange? After he finished his last year of high school in the United States, Larrazabal returned to Spain with the intention of turning pro immediately.
But his father wanted him to know what an honest day's work and an honest day's pay was all about so he put young Pablo to work in the family's fish farm business.
As we now know, that didn't dampen his desire to play golf. Anything but, I would think.
Pablo Larrazabal has had a busy June. The month began with a T15 at the Celtic Manor Wales Open and nearly 30 thousand euros in prize money, a tie for 38th the following week in Austria, a DNF the next week on the Challenge Tour, another 54 hundred euros at the BMW International where he finished T61 and then the lottery win in France at the prestigious French Open which earns the Spanish player a whopping 660 thousand euros.
He has the same cool that Argentina's Andres Romero exhibited at last year's British Open. Larrazabal held off not just Colin Montgomerie but Lee Westwood as well and he said afterwards "now I know I can play against these guys…"
Another Spanish champion is born.
The best part about his win was the ease with which he bagged his first title. For most rookies who manage to get on top of the leader board it is always a struggle to stay up there through till the final hole on Sunday afternoon. That was not the case with Pablo Larrazabal. He never faltered even once, a sign of a player capable enough of making it into the big league. It was not even a weak field by any stretch of the imagination. Some of Europe’s top players were in the field and yet Larrazabal managed to clinch the trophy in a remarkably comfortable fashion.
You could see it in his stride as he walked up to the 18th green across the lake on Sunday. You could feel it right there that this kid is here to stay. It might not have been poppy’s pond but Pablo Larrazabal’s family and friends sure did make him realise that it was a great win for him when they flung him into the lake next to the 18th green. I guess having caddied for his brother previously especially in a tournament like the Masters must have been a great learning curve for him and the results are now visible. It will be interesting to see how he performs now that he is in the limelight. Could he do an Anthony Kim? We will have to wait and watch.
Andy – It’s funny how some players seem immune to pressure. I took a personal development course many years ago that ascribed to the view that human beings are meaning-assigning machines. In other words, we assign meaning to everything that happens to us, good or bad. Larrazabal obviously assigned a meaning to the French Open that removed the pressure of a maiden victory from his shoulders. Wish I could do the same on a 4-foot bogey putt…!