 …and a nail-biting play-off
Congratulations to Gonzalo Fernandez-Castaño from all at Yes! Golf, and thanks for a truly gripping play-off at the Estoril Open de Portugal this weekend.
In his maiden European Tour victory, Irishman Michael Hoey par-putted a 6-footer on the third extra hole – the par 4 17th – to nudge Gonzalo and his Yes! Abbie putter into a hard fought 2nd place.
The two golfers were virtually neck and neck throughout the 4th round at a very gusty Oitavos Dunes in Cascais, Portugal. Indeed the offshore winds really tested all players, both off the tee and rolling shots along the greens. Inconsistency resulted in that Hoey duffed one or two putts of under five feet – notably on the par 3 12th (his first bogey putt of the day) and the par 5 13th.
Gonzalo was also seen to miss one or two very short putts as the tension rose closer to a playoff, which – commentators agreed – was easily on the cards from about the 6th hole, when the top 11 players on the leaderboard were separated by only one point. He missed a 4-footer at the 11th, but then deftly sunk an extraordinary 14-foot putt on the 15th and a breath-taking putt that looked at least 23 feet from the cup on the fringe grass, at the par 5 16th.
He was 3rd in the putts-per-round statistics, second only to Mikael Lundberg (2nd) using a Yes! Donna Putter and Swede Patrik Sjöland, who failed to finish in the top 20. Lundberg convincingly sunk a 20-foot putt at the par 3 9th – his 2nd consecutive birdie putt - and par-putted again at the 16th that took him briefly to tied 2nd place.
The Spaniard took up the Yes! blade in Dubai, but had adjustments made in Seville the week before from 69 – 74 degrees more upright, to accommodate a change in his set-up. When competing – and competitions can be weekly occurrences – it’s vital that a Tour player is free to focus on any particular putting strategy or process without having to change his stroke. Having the facility for a Yes! Golf custom-fitting allows the player to achieve and maintain that focus, because changing the putter to suit his stroke permits much-needed consistency.
An interesting statistic…
Gonzalo Fernandez-Castaño was placed #44 in the putting stats, averaging 30.5 putts per round in Seville. He tied 14th. The Portuguese event saw him #3 in the putting stats, with an average 27 putts per round and a thoroughly well-deserved 2nd place cheque for €138,880… which some would say is definitely a move in the right direction. |
