Gonzalo Fernandez Castaño he leaves behind a very complicated year 2021 in sports. It was the worst season of his career, with very bad feelings and an uncertain future. It is difficult for him to recognize himself in the competition, but not everything is bad. There are also positive signs and, above all, there is desire. The time has not yet come to throw in the towel. Not much less. There is optimism in his message, but also a lot of caution and caution. “There is a lot of manure to clean,” he says, although he adds: “the manure also helps a flower grow.” Gonzalo sits with Ten Golf to chat about his present and his future, without hot cloths or detours, facing each question with his usual honesty and courage.
The balance of 2021 … «It has been a full-blown trick. In sports it has been a terrible year, I have played badly. I started the year with enthusiasm, with enthusiasm and also with uncertainty because I did not know what I was going to be able to play due to my category. However, afterwards I have played a lot. My first tournament was in Qatar and from there, except for the Greats, Rolex Series, WGC, and perhaps the Irish Open, I have entered all of them, which indicates by looking at my position in the ranking that it has been a bad year. We started with enthusiasm, with some changes in the swing with José Carlos Gutiérrez that worked in the practice field, but in competition they were caught with pins. In April-May I decided to start working with David Castillo and make the swing change. Since then, there has been everything. We started out on the right foot so as not to make radical changes in the middle of the season. I went from hitting a ball that came out on the left to changing and taking it out on the right. On the practice field it looked good, but in the tournament it didn’t work out either. The turning point was in Sancti Petri, on the Challenge Tour, the only Challenge tournament I have played this year. There we saw that we were not going in the right direction and we decided to make the effort and sacrifice to make more profound changes and it was. From there, since June, July, I have hit the ball much better and I have begun to see progress, although the results have not been very good. In Madrid and Valderrama I played quite well. We have a better line of work. But come on, the summary of the year is a shit stick on a stick … ».
Where are you right now regarding those swing changes? … “As I am not competing and I do not know when I will play tournaments again, surely until May I will not have any on the European Tour, I have time and we are going to make changes. I took a month after Mallorca where I did not touch a stick and we started a couple of weeks ago. We continue in the same line of work, reinforcing the movement a little more, making more exaggerated changes. We want to give him a push and see what happens and next year we will see what I can play and what I do with my life because in sports it is a bit upstairs ».
The desire to compete is still very fresh … «It is true that if you look at the trajectory of recent years it is clear that we are taking steps backwards, we are going in the wrong direction, in terms of ranking, money, tournaments … and that makes you rethink the situation. What I like is to compete and if I left it I would miss it a lot. I am very competitive and I like to beat even the marbles. I really like to compete and what I do best is compete, although in recent years I have not fought for any title and that reduces your morale, your self-esteem and takes away your desire to continue in that circus in which we players live; that it is very nice when it goes well, but that when it goes wrong it is complicated because you are far from home, a lot of time alone. When it goes well it is gratifying and the pros outweigh those cons it has, but when you see that you are not playing well, you have that charge of consciousness that you are not exercising in the family aspect, since you are far from them, nor in the professional aspect. because you are not contributing to the family cause. If at least you are making money and contributing, well, but you have that little thorn in that you do not contribute in either of the two facets ».
How is the mood … «I am a little discouraged because it has been many months and several years without being upstairs. I was never very consistent, but when I was up, I pulled out my nails, claws and scratched something like who says. But now the worst of all is not that I am hitting the ball better or worse, I don’t think I hit it worse than before, but I have the feeling that I have forgotten to compete, I have lost that fang that I used to have, I don’t know if it’s the obsession with swing, technique, lack of confidence or what, but I feel like I’ve forgotten to do a few things. The perfect example is the last tournament in Mallorca. I started with -5 or -6 and the second day, a windy day, complicated, to hold on to the bucks and do few, of which I liked … I did +4, +5 to pass the miracle cut. I have forgotten to do a few regardless of how I am hitting the ball. In the end, as my friend Borja Quiepo de Llano says, this is a hand of cards that are dealt to you and you have to play with those, good or bad. I have forgotten to play with the cards they touch. If I do not have a poker of aces, I do not know how to do little ».
But there are also those low laps of Santa Ponsa, Valderrama … «There are many positive and good things. The Dutch Open, for example, which comes to mind now, was a bit frustrating. On the practice lap the first day I didn’t do a bogey and I did 65 or 64 strokes, in the Pro Am more of the same, 64-65 with a bogey on the penultimate hole … I was hitting spectacularly, thinking you’ll see tomorrow I’m going to break and I signed 44 shots in my first nine… From there, I did play very well although I missed the comfortable cut. How can you come from making 18 birdies an eagle and a bogey in 36 holes to signing 44 in nine. That nonsense has neither head nor tail. I am capable of hitting very good shots, perhaps better than in my best days, but on the other hand I have lost what I call the tusk, what a player like Pablo Larrazábal has, who technically has not been the best, but has a claw and eggs like Espartero’s horse. It’s about doing little with what you have, whether you like it or not, and that is costing me a lot, especially for four days in a row. Before it could be worth you with three good laps and one regular, but today you need four solid laps. The level has risen a lot and you need exceptional strength. ‘
Although it is difficult to see it, there is light there at the end of the tunnel … «I am very fighter. I don’t lower my arms, even though I’m playing poorly and starting at 44. I’m always going to fight to make the cut. I always fight and my laps are not so bad, I get my makeup done … It is also true that when I stay away from the cut, the swing is released and good things start to happen. Another unusual turn has come around me. In Valderrama I did the first day +6 or +7 taking 12 or 13 streets. Doing that in Valderrama taking so many streets is for you to be taken prisoner. The next day I did -2 or -3 in very difficult conditions. It is like one of lime and another of sand. You have moments that you say I already have it, for example this year with the previous ones for the British Open, I played scared and said, that’s it, I have it, I start to see the light and then bang, slap … Golf is like that, it’s a sport of humble people, when you think you have it, it gives you a tumble, but this last season I have had more tumbles than necessary … »
From what you count, it seems more of a mental matter than anything else … «In my case it is a hundred percent mental factor, it is a matter of believing it, of knowing how to forgive myself. I do not pass one, it is a matter of excessive perfectionism, when this sport, if it should have taught me something, is that this is not a sport of perfection, it is a matter of accepting the failure, of knowing that obviously you have trained well and that You have a high chance that it will go well, but it can also go wrong, it can happen. Each blow cannot be a constant examination and in my case it is like that, I do not give myself permission to fail. That makes trust less than ideal. Either I am doing very well or very badly and that mentally is a toll that weighs a lot and I want to work on that. These months without competing are going to be good for me. I’m going to be a golfer my whole life, whether I like it or not. The mental part is the simplest and most complicated at the same time, to introspect and see what you are doing wrong between ear and ear, analyze it and try to turn it around. It is not easy.
How are you doing all that mental work … «Arturo Tenacio, my psychologist for years in the United States, was here on Thanksgiving, and we were working. He did a personality test on me and it gave some quite curious results, but very consistent with what was happening and reflected very well what was happening, my reality. I asked him if he would change if I did the same test at a time with better results and he told me that something would change but very little. Interesting things came out and it all made perfect sense. I was very reflected when the results were explained to me. We are doing this work and trying to remove a little of all the manure from the head, even if later that manure will serve to grow a flower.
Your career up to here is fantastic. You could perfectly say we have arrived here and well, but it gives the feeling that you still have things to fasten … “I think I can still improve, grow and play better than I did at the time. I look back and I have achieved things that surely I would not have thought when I started in 2004. If they told me I was going to win seven times on the Tour I would not have believed it, but I have years ahead of me to continue improving. I have a problem and it is that I like to finish the things I start and I am very competitive. When I turned pro, I didn’t do it to end up at 41, but with the idea of playing in the PGA Tour Champions sometime. I have years ahead of me and I watch careers like Lee Westwood or Richard Bland and that gives you hope. If you have to go through the Challenge and roll up your sleeves and then win at Belfry, I’m ready. I think I have years ahead of me and, above all, physically I feel good. I have a disadvantage in terms of hitting, but not because I hit little, but because now the kids hit crazy. However, physically I am much better than in 2011. It is that I do not want to leave now, it does not hurt at all, it is not the case, it hurts my soul, but nothing more. I have years ahead of me and I want to keep trying, I don’t know how long, but now I feel like it ».
