Sergio Garcia has achieved an overwhelming victory in the Castelló Masters thanks to a final round of 63 strokes for 257 (-27) with 11 strokes ahead of the second classified, Gonzalo Fernandez – Castaño (-16). And with this victory, the Castelló Masters once again sets a new record on the European Tour, as the 257 strokes accumulated by the winner is the lowest score in the history of the Tour.
Starting with an eight-stroke lead, today he only had to finish the job, but the Borriol native has said goodbye to the tournament in style, with another great round, in which he has signed 9 birdies for a single bogey on the 17th.
Sergio’s uncontestable victory at home, where he has shown an overwhelming superiority in front of his family and public, and has dedicated it to Seve Ballesteros and his family. Four bogeys, one per round, in 72 holes, show the most solid version of the player from Castellón, who has performed at a great height both in his long game and around and inside the greens.
As he himself warned yesterday, a furious attack from the group of pursuers was to be expected for the last round, and so it was. The fiercest of them was Gonzalo Fernández – Castaño, who completed the first nine holes with 29 strokes, seven under par, his final result with which he has secured his card for next year after a season in which he has been out of competition for seven months due to injury. Quite a feat.
Tied for third place were Alexander Noren and Richie Ramsay with 269 strokes (-15) and fifth was Thomas Aiken, who also shot 63 for 270 (-14).
Sergio’s victory at the Castelló Masters is his ninth on the European Tour and his fourth on Spanish soil (Open de España 2002, Mallorca Classic 2004 and Castelló Masters 2008). With it he approaches the top 30 of the world ranking and once again leads the Spanish players in this classification.
Sergio’s statements
“I’m very happy, this shows that I’m doing things right, although there are still small things to improve, but today everything went perfectly. What I feel today I wouldn’t call relief, but satisfaction.
I am very grateful to everyone who has supported me during these two difficult years, my sponsors, my family, my girlfriend, Carlos, Glenn, everyone and it has been wonderful to win with all of them around. I’m finally where I wanted to be, after being number 2 in the world, doing things the way I wanted to do them.
It is a week in which everything has gone well; perhaps the most complicated were the first 9 holes of the tournament last Thursday, but from then on, if at some point there was a shot that slowed me down, then something happened that relaunched me. It is those good feelings that help to get the victory as I have achieved.
I’ve been hitting well since the US Open; for me the most important thing is not only to make the putts, but to have consistency when I make them, even if the ones that don’t go in are positive.
As a personal feeling, I do notice that I can play better, there are shots that I could have played differently, in 72 holes it is very difficult not to miss any shot but I have seen a good version of my long game, together with my best version of approach and putt. Today the important thing was to know which holes to play aggressively, and in which to make par was a good result, and I was able to do it.
Ball placement or no ball placement, a win is a win.
I want to dedicate the victory to Seve Ballesteros and all his family, and congratulate Gonzalo for the great comeback he has made, it has been very nice to see him play like that after his back injury.
I send a hug to Chema Olazábal, Ryder Cup Captain, who I hope saw the end of the tournament.
Of course this victory helps Spanish sport and golf, and not only what I do, and what Gonzalo, Alvaro Quiros, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Chema Olazabal, but also Rafa Nadal, Pau Gasol, the Spanish national team, the basketball team… it is all very important for those people who look at you and want to be like you in the future, for me it is a pride to serve them as a flag.
Winning is very nice but it’s not everything; for example, in the BMW I had a spectacular week, very nice, I deserved to win, I didn’t win and nothing happened. When my emotions are the right ones, for me the important thing is to be there, to have fun, to want to do things well, to fight. If I don’t do well, like in the US Open, I can’t start crying.
Now I look for the positive things in everything, in the last two years I have seen everything negative and now I look for everything positive, but not only in my game or in golf, but in everything in life”.
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