Where golf was born, among the Scottish meadows and dunes of St Andrews, Adrián Otaegui (San Sebastián, 1992) received his doctorate with an exhibition at the Fairmont course, a few meters from the cathedral of golf, the Old Course.
The Goiburu de Andoain club from San Sebastian, with a final score of -23, hit the table this Sunday to overcome the four disadvantageous strokes with which he started on the last day over the Englishman Matt Wallace, eventually second with -19, and thus conquer his third tournament in his seventh season on the European Tour.
This victory, in his 205 tournament, in addition to the forcefulness with which he has conquered it, has a very special component as it is the first he achieves in the stroke play mode (all strokes are counted). The previous two, one, in 2017, Paul Lawrie, won in the match play modality (point for each hole won), while the other, the Belgian Knockout, in 2018, was played under a modality that mixed two stroke rounds play and direct confrontations.
With a wool cap to withstand the low temperature, a neck warmer, a winter sweater, and at times with a water suit, the Scottish tournament has had all the ingredients of golf and Otaegui has known how to handle them better than anyone. His dominance has been undeniable. Some data is worth: he has made 29 birdies in 72 holes -the only hole in which he has not birdied during the week was the 16-, he has only scored six bogeys and his partial in par 4s has been 16 under par .
The ‘Pirata’, as he is known, was sensational in the first three days (-10, -5 and -4) and finished him off in the stellar match, with -9. With the pressure of victory on his shoulders, the San Sebastian took each and every one of the rivals who tried to overshadow him to finish with four shots ahead of Matt Wallace and six over Aaron Rai.
Leader after the first day of the tournament, in which he delivered a card of 62 strokes, since then in the top positions, Otaegui’s triumph was forged in a last round difficult to qualify. It is difficult to do better. Again the best lap of the day (63 strokes), with the victory practically in his pocket from the birdie on the 15th hole where he was already four strokes ahead.
Demolisher with the putter
In an open field like Fairmont, without too much rough and where the key, as in any links worth its salt, was to avoid fairway bunkers, Otaegui has been brilliant in all facets -this Sunday he was one inch away from making a hole in one on the par 3 of the 173-meter hole 11-, but it was on the green where he embroidered it, where tournaments are won. He has hit impossible putts, long and short. The funny thing is that he has been devastating with the putter after slightly altering his grip in recent days with the aim of gaining better sensations. Since last week, after missing the cut at Wentworth, Otaegui has decided to bring his hands closer together and stretch his index fingers down along the handle. The result, unbeatable.
The victory in Scotland endorses a remarkable season in which as the most outstanding result until this Sunday he has achieved a second place in the English Championship and has been able to play the US Open after finishing eighth in the British mini-tour.
This triumph, endowed with 156,825 euros for the winner, will also allow him to climb the world ranking. Today he will appear in position 152 after winning close to a hundred places – his best ranking has been 64 in 2019-. For the moment he climbs to 25th place in the Race to Dubai and has secured his presence in the final.
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