Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño won his seventh title on the European Tour by winning the first tournament of the Final Series, the BMW Masters presented by SRE Group, which was held at the Lake Malaren Golf Club in Shanghai (China), where two other Spaniards joined him in the top ten: Pablo Larrazábal and Rafa Cabrera-Bello, tied fifth and eighth, respectively.
Gonzalo has won with rounds of 71-71-67-68 = 277, 11 under par, adding the sixth Top Ten of the season in 20 participations in the European Tour, and achieves the first Spanish victory of 2013 in this circuit.
The Spaniard, who climbs to fourth place in the Race to Dubai and moves to the top of the Ryder Cup standings, has seven individual wins and one team victory in his nine years as a professional on Tour:
List of winners
2005 KLM Dutch Open
European Tour Rookie of the Year 2005
2006 BMW Asian Open in play-off
2007 Telecom Italia Open in play-off
2008 Quinn Insurance British Masters in play-off
2011 Barclays Singapore Open in play-off
2012 BMW Italian Open presented by CartaSi
2013 Seve Trophy by Golf+ (Continental team)
2013 BMW Masters presented by SRE Group
Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño: “I am very happy. I have taken a big weight off my shoulders. Winning this tournament has opened many doors for me: now I enter the Majors and I will no longer have the stress of keeping my card next year in Europe, so I can focus more on the United States. The approach will be different.
Last week I was working at Valderrama with my two coaches, José Carlos Gutiérrez and Mariano Bartolomé, and we made some changes that have paid off: moving the club more firmly when kicking, cutting the gesture to hit the ball drier, and activating the club path in the long game. The truth is that I had been hitting the ball well for weeks but I couldn’t make the putts.
Yesterday I played very well and I hit it better than today, which I started badly in that sense and with very bad feelings; but Jeff (Jeffrey Paul), my caddie, knew how to calm me down and got me to recover the rhythm and get back into the tournament. From the fifth hole, where I hit a very good shot, I hit the ball sensationally. On the 18th I tried to play too conservatively… and I almost messed it up; but I was three strokes ahead, with a good round without bogeys and without getting into trouble, and I managed to win. I am very happy.
It has been a fantastic week. I don’t know what it is about China that I love, I feel very good playing here and Shanghai seems to me a wonderful city; besides, golf is in very good health, just look at the number of people who have come to the tournament and followed us. It’s a pleasure.
Tonight, dinner with all Spaniards to celebrate”.
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