Adrián Otaegui (-23) has done this Sunday in St Andrews a marvelous golf exhibition to win the Scottish Championship. Undeniable victory. Final. A cyclone that has swept away each and every one of the rivals who have tried to overshadow it. He has won four shots ahead of Matt Wallace and six over Aaron Rai.
Otaegui has been majestic. It is not easy at all to see this type of deployment in a last day, coming out in the stellar match and with the pressure of victory on the shoulders. It has been a clinic from start to finish. He started with a birdie on hole 1 and finished with ten birdies on his account for an extraordinary round of 63 strokes. Matt Wallace, who came out four ahead of the Spaniard, and Garrick Porteous, who had one less, have not been responsive. They have encountered a higher being today who has swept them away in every aspect of the game.
“I know one day I’m going to win a stroke play tournament”
Adrián has been brilliant from the tee and, above all, has kicked like real angels. He has plugged in putts of all colors, from very far away, as in 1 or 13, with distances greater than ten meters, but also putting those crucial ones in a lap of between three and five meters as in 5, 7, 9 or 12. As if that were not enough, he has completed the exhibition with several superb irons as in 8, 11 and 15. Of all of them, the most important has been in 11, par 3. He has been about to make a hole in one after committing the first and only bogey of the day. It was his declaration of intent. This tournament is mine and nobody else’s.
The Pirate discovers a booty in two small adjustments to the putt
Wallace had a bad day. He has not finished finding himself at ease, very faulty from the tee in the first holes and, furthermore, Otaegui has not given him the option of re-engaging. When the English wanted to wake up, he already had his hump uploaded to Spanish. Porteous has endured Adrián’s ordeal longer, but he also had to give in when he realized that today it was impossible to get ahold of a player who was very close to signing a perfect lap. He definitely jumped through the air with a double bogey on 16.
A fact that reflects Adrián’s display today and throughout the week (he made 62 strokes on Thursday, the best lap of his career) is that during the four days he has birdied all the holes at Fairmont St Andrews except for 16, which you have solved with four pairs. He has only made six bogeys in 72 holes and his partial in par 4 has been 16 under par. Stratospheric.
Otaegui storms the lead in Scotland with the best lap of his life
A birdie on the 15th hole put him four strokes clear with three holes to go. It was the coup de grace. There he did look the winner. The wind has changed today Sunday at Fairmont St Andrews and the last holes were not so difficult. He was able to control the situation even more, taking a pair of great merit in the 16, with a great approach from off the green, and comfortably solving the last two commitments. It’s not the Old Course, but Otaegui can already boast of having won a golf tournament with a leisurely stroll through St Andrews. It is a luxury that is not available to many.
It is Adrián Otaegui’s third victory in the European Tour, but it is not one more. It has a very special component as it is the first to be achieved in the ‘stroke play’ mode. So far he had won the Paul Lawrie Match Play in 2017 and Belgian Knockout in 2018. I already said it last Friday as an omen: “I know I’m going to win a stroke play tournament.” Just two days later, he has fulfilled his courageous and determined prophecy. Perhaps the comment may seem esoteric or advantageous, but this week Adrián’s eyes were shining in a special way.
Today Otaegui has donned the disguise of Blackbeard, the most feared pirate of all time.
