It was hard to see it coming, and certainly no one would have bet on it in previous days. Not because Adrián Otaegui, a four-time winner on the DP World Tour, the former European, is not a golfer capable of rubbing shoulders with the best. Rather because of his record in the greats, four missed cuts in five appearances, including his only British Open to date, that of 2019, and because at Royal Liverpool, where the 151st edition of the tournament began this Thursday, there is also Jon Rahm, the ‘capo’ of the Navy, made up this week of eight golfers, more than ever this century. Be that as it may, the truth is that the man from San Sebastian was the best Spaniard in the first round, author of a -4 that left him one shot away from the lead, in the hands of the South African amateur Lamprecht, the English Fleetwood and the Argentine Grillo. In fact, he was the only under par in the contingent, with Larrazábal and Elvira at +1, Ballester at +2, Cañizares at +4 and Arnaus and Campillo practically out of the weekend with each +11.
Welcome to the alternatives to Rahmbo, who, on the other hand, did not have the day and delivered a +3 at the clubhouse that, without ruling him out, we are talking about a guy with two majors in his bag, forces him to row. It’s not like he can procrastinate on that task either, because on Friday, in principle, he’ll also be kind, especially in the morning shift, the one that’s his turn, but on Saturday the weather forecast says that things will be more complicated.
“I haven’t taken advantage of the easy holes, the ones at the beginning. I have not taken a street. These are the two things that stand out. I hit good irons at 18, 15, 14, 9… I was close to having good birdie options, but then I missed two 1-meter putts at 15 and 16 that hurt. It is what it is”, resignedly recounted a round that went awry at number 11. He had just birdied the number 10 to return to par after the bogey of number 7, his first trip-shot, and he missed a clear opportunity. In the 12th he got another bogey, after a bad shot from the tee that ended up in the bunker after impact with a spectator.
Then, what he narrated: the putt at 15, for birdie, missed from a meter and a half, trip for bogey at 16 and another blow to the backpack at 18 after going into the bunker with the second shot. He ended up visibly upset, complaining about several TV crews getting in his way on the final hole. “I have a lot of people in front of me and they don’t move away, as if I didn’t exist,” he lamented into the microphones.
Much more smiling, of course, Otaegui appeared before the media. Bread and salt found them in nine seconds, four birdies (12, 13, 15 and 18) without fail. And that started with a bogey, which he countered by subtracting at 5 and 6 before a new blur at 7. In general, a very orderly round, which can be expected from a golfer without fuss but solid, reliable, who must be given the benefit of the doubt because he is not used to major setbacks.
“I would say that the only shot in which I got into trouble was the tee off of 1. I’ve hit a lot of fairways, a lot of greens… I’ve missed some opportunities, but I’ve also made long putts (of more than seven meters those of 6 and 12)”, recounted the man from San Sebastian, with a “good taste in his mouth”. . After testing last year in the LIV, which earned him a sanction from the DP World Tour that has kept him out of action throughout June and has cost him just over 100,000 euros, he returned to the fold and won at Valderrama. Definitely the return has done him good.