Rahm returned to Valderrama, Sergió fought to retain the title, the sun shone generously thanking the new dates of the tournament, the prize money was increased from two to three million, there was a great sporting spectacle … and deservedly won by a young 24-year-old South African whose life is marked by tremendous events that could be the plot of a sad movie but with a happy ending.
Rahm’s frustrated face in an image captured on the 18th tee on Sunday as he beat Christiaan Bezuidenhout on his inexorable path to victory said it all. The Barrika native had tried hard but had not been able to overcome his fierce rival, who showed an astonishing confidence in his game and total control of his mind. Nerves apparently did not affect him, or at least he did not let them show. And he had a lot at stake, nothing less than his first victory in the European Tour. Not even when his relatives rushed at him and covered him with kisses and hugs did the champion seem to flinch. Could it be that the adversities he suffered in the past have forged in him a kind of armor that does not let his emotions show through?
But let’s go back to the tournament before delving into the turbulent history of Bezuidenhout. So well did the South African play that he nearly pulled off the feat of finishing all four rounds of the tournament under par (he was one stroke over on Sunday), something unheard of at Valderrama. His dominance of the scene was evident from the first day with his opening 66, followed by rounds of 68, 69 and 71, to finish with 10 under par and an unassailable lead of 6 over the five players who shared second place: Adri Arnaus, Eduardo de la Riva, Mike Lorenzo-Vera, Alvaro Quiros and Jon Rahm. Sergio García, defending champion, who had also won in two other editions, could have at least joined the group if he had not gone into the water protecting the 17th green. He finished seventh, with -3.
Apart from the half a million euros he pocketed for his victory, Bezuidenhout won another great prize: one of the three places to play in the British Open awarded by the Estrella Damm Andalucía Masters. This great privilege of playing the oldest of the four majors was also obtained by Arnaus and Lorenzo-Vera, being better ranked in the world ranking than Quirós and De la Riva.
With the new dates, moving forward from October to June, the tournament did not suffer this time the inclement weather in the form of rain that had been so frequent in other years, and the public enjoyed splendid weather (although excessively hot at times), as was – as always – the Valderrama playing field, more spectacular if possible than in previous editions of the tournament thanks to the pruning of trees and general improvements made in recent months.
And now it is time to return to the eventful history of the champion, and what better than the protagonist himself to summarize it, in an open letter he wrote before his victory at the Real Club Valderrama.
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“I drank rat poison.”
“When I was just a baby, while playing with some friends in the street, I drank rat poison in a freak accident. I was two and a half years old and was playing outside when I picked up a bottle of Coke lying around and took a swig thinking it was that, but it actually contained rat poison. It was a moment that would change my life forever.
As a result of that moment of naivety I almost died. The hospital had to aspirate the contents of my stomach to get rid of all the poison, but the poison affected the entire nervous system of my body, and one of the long-term effects was stuttering. That stuttering would lead me to develop a severe case of anxiety.
My doctor diagnosed me with anxiety when I was 4 years old. This led me to be very introverted and depressed. In the last four or five years, I have slowly started to improve and have become more confident when speaking in front of people, but in previous years I would withdraw from everything and everyone.
I was basically living in my own world because I was always afraid of having to have a conversation with my stutter. When I talked to people, I knew I was going to have difficulty and that it would take time to pronounce my words, so I was always afraid to answer the phone, say my name or ask a question. I would always withdraw from a group because I was afraid to talk to them. My psychologist really helped me overcome that fear and become much more confident. Unfortunately, there is nothing I can do to get rid of stuttering, you just have to learn to adapt and work with it to control it as best you can.
During my junior days I was afraid of public speaking, which was a requirement when you won a tournament. For me it’s a huge thing to have that confidence now to be able to stand up in front of 100 people and speak. I went to a psychologist when I was 14 and we worked on how to manage my stuttering and be confident enough to speak in public situations. She put me on beta blockers, a medication that helps lower blood pressure and treat anxiety. I took it for seven years in my amateur days, which helped me become more confident and enjoy my life again.
However, in 2014 I received a phone call that would have a major impact on my golf career. I was playing in the British Amateur at Royal Portrush when, after my first round, I handed in my scorecard and was told I had been selected for a drug test. At the time I was taking beta blockers for my stuttering. I wrote that I was taking beta blockers on the form before the drug test, making no secret of the fact that I was using that medication.
Two months later I was practicing for the Eisenhower Trophy, where I would be representing South Africa, and one afternoon my father called to tell me that he needed to see me immediately. When I got home he gave me the news that I had been suspended. I was devastated.
It was horrible. I had spent my entire amateur career working my way up to represent my country at the Eisenhower: being selected for the team was one of my big goals. To be told two days before the tournament that I couldn’t go because of a two-year doping suspension was just too much for me. I felt like my life was over.
The worst were all the stories that came out from people in the golf industry and supposed friends. I was accused of using beta blockers to improve my performances, which really hurt me and my family. A lot of nasty things were said and I became known as the guy who was banned from golf because of a drug-related incident. I was aware that labels like that are hard to get rid of and I hit a very low point in my life. I was banned from playing the one thing in the world I loved: golf. I was inconsolable.
After what seemed like the darkest period of my life, I had a hearing and had my sentence reduced from two years to nine months after confirming that I had not used the drug for any performance-enhancing benefit. It was the longest nine months of my life. However, I managed to turn that situation into energy to help me come back stronger.
The fact that I was exonerated from using a performance-enhancing drug was the most important thing. My father, who introduced me to the sport, raised me to play golf as a gentleman, with honesty and integrity, so to be questioned about it was a very difficult thing to handle. I felt I had let my family down, which above all else was the hardest problem to deal with.
After the ban period, in my first tournament in South Africa I won by seven strokes. This was, to those who criticized me, a palpable statement that I won tournaments because I was a good golfer. Not because I used drugs to get it. It felt like a new beginning for me: I had learned a life-changing lesson that made me focus even more on achieving my dreams.
In my first big tournament as a professional I finished second, at the South African Open. I had just received my Sunshine Tour card, so to do very well from the start was great. It gave me experience playing against the best golfers in Europe and made me even more determined to achieve my goals. In 2017 I got my European Tour card after a season on the Sunshine Tour where I won Rookie of the Year.
I retained my card in the 2018 season and had some solid results. However, I still feel like I have a lot more ahead of me. It has been a great learning process. I’ve made mistakes, but with each passing tournament, I learn more and the next goal for me is to win on the European Tour, qualify the majors and I would love to go to Portrush (British Open venue) this summer.”
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