It was all happening at the Valderrama Masters, where Sergio Garcia emerged from a Sunday thriller with Joost Luiten to claim his third win of 2017
What happened at the Valderrama Masters?
It turned out to be a two-man race and, in the end, it was the tournament host Sergio Garcia who pipped Joost Luiten for his sixth win on home soil. Garcia won the previous instalment of this, back in 2011, so effectively it was a defence and he now has three wins on the European Tour this year after his victories in Dubai and Augusta.
He closed with a 67 for a highly unlikely winning 12 under total, one better than Luiten, and four clear of Daniel Brooks of England.
Garcia birdied 9, 10 and 11 to go three clear and you might have expected the back nine to fizzle out. But he then bogeyed 12, Luiten birdied 13 and 15 and we were then all square. But the Dutchman three-putted the next and, after a pair of birdies at 17, Luiten lipped out at the last from around 25 feet.
“Daniel played great with everything he had on the line, trying to keep his card, and Joost played unbelievable. I played really well and felt like maybe I could get away and he just kept coming back and made it an amazing match. I stayed patient the whole time, made sure the bad moments didn’t affect me too much and made a couple of really key putts coming in,” Garcia said.
“I want to dedicate this one to my wife Angela and our little baby coming next year in March – this one is for them.”
Tee shot through the trees ?↩️
Slip on your second shot ?↩️
That's one way to win it Sergio… pic.twitter.com/ndk8Y32wkm
— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) October 22, 2017
Talking points
That’s it for the 2017 season in terms of who kept their playing privileges for next season and it was a huge week for Daniel Brooks whose third-place finish saw him rocket from 123rd to 97th on the Race to Dubai. The leading 101 players kept their cards. The Englishman needed to finish 8th or better to have a chance via the Access List but he managed it in style with a 64 on Saturday and a 71 nudged him into third on his own.
Jamie Donaldson wouldn’t have lost his card as he is in the top 40 for career earning but, with that only lasting one season, this was a massive week for the 2014 Ryder Cup man. The Welshman finished fourth to move from 118th to 99th on the money list – a share of fourth and he would have finished outside the top 101. He might have to buy Scott Jamieson a nice glass of something after the Scot doubled the 16th.
Other good stories included Wade Ormsby, who was fifth to move up 24 places to 82nd, Ashley Chesters (see Best Quote) and Ricardo Gouveia who sneaked the penultimate spot on the Access List with his 23rd-place finish.
After finishing 4th to keep yr card by a shot it’s time for a dip!@EuropeanTour #exausted#letsgethammered pic.twitter.com/I2EFP2FBHy
— Jamie Donaldson (@DonaldsonJamie) October 22, 2017
Last week we had Sergio Garcia and Austin Connelly reunited at the Italian Open, 18 years on from a meeting in Texas. This week we had Jon Rahm returning to Valderrama, a decade after getting Henrik Stenson to sign his chest. Incredibly/not incredibly this was Rahm’s first professional start in an event in Spain – he missed the cut.
2007: Rahm gets a Henrik autograph at Valderrama
2017: Rahm returns as world no. 5?: @golfinspain pic.twitter.com/40DPVZjJw3
— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) October 18, 2017
Shots of the week
It wasn’t quite enough but Luiten is quite sensational when it comes to par 3s and he managed this on the 69th hole of a huge tournament when one shot off the lead..
Game On.
Luiten birdies 15 to tie Garcia at the top. #AVM2017 pic.twitter.com/3Qpo2mjkgv
— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) October 22, 2017
How to close out the front nine on Tournament Sunday..
Holing with the fairway wood…from just off the green.
Easy for @TheSergioGarcia. pic.twitter.com/7ueIfV5bjV
— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) October 22, 2017
Brooks had some week in Spain, here he is somehow making a key birdie at 13…
"Hola!"
Some recovery from @dbrooksgolf. ? pic.twitter.com/byNw5zxkKH
— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) October 22, 2017
The rarest of birds and all that on Friday. When Luiten is on, he really is on..
Albatross!@JoostLuiten, take a bow! pic.twitter.com/E1EnTGOlzt
— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) October 20, 2017
Let’s be honest most of us would have double, if not treble, hit this… Jamie Donaldson doing the business from some tufty greenside rough.
Whatever it takes… pic.twitter.com/B6mxMPyLyK
— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) October 22, 2017
OK, it’s not one of the best shots but could you imagine being a member at Valderrama and facing this tee ball every week?
No easy tee shots here…
…but @MKaymer59 nailed this one. pic.twitter.com/WDywD3d7G2
— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) October 19, 2017
Quote of the week
“I’m so glad it’s over. So glad it’s over with a good score. It was probably actually worse than being in with a chance of winning because it’s just not the nicest of feelings and I’m very, very pleased it’s over.”
Best dressed
We’ll overlook the white belt on what was a massive week for Brooks. The shade of pink gives him the nod though if there were some more pics of Robert Rock on day three that fitted the shape of this page then he wouldn’t have got a look in.
Worst dressed
There are few bigger fans of Martin Kaymer, and his shiny forearms and his general Boss get-up, but this was disappointing. This resembled something like Arsenal would be wearing when getting knocked out of the FA Cup in the 90s. Kaymer wasn’t planning on playing in Spain and only rang Sergio for an invite late on so maybe he didn’t have a chance to pick up his best threads?
Best tweets
A good representation of my last 2 days at Valderrama. pic.twitter.com/bnDciP5xtJ
— Laurie Canter (@LaurieCanter) October 20, 2017
got what I call valderrama'd today a double hit chip from green side on 14 got the ball rolling, downhill after that I'm afraid #golowfriday
— David howell (@davidhowell530) October 19, 2017
#WedgeWednesday… you know the drill…?
Some custom wedge-work on the Tour Truck at the #ValderramaMasters. #TeamCallaway pic.twitter.com/6lxx5ifzTS— Callaway Golf Europe (@CallawayGolfEU) October 18, 2017
Best stats
Did you know: Luiten's 273 aggregate total would've been enough to win all of the previous 21 European Tour events held at Valderrama. pic.twitter.com/vwakRcwjJ1
— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) October 22, 2017
Update:@TheSergioGarcia earned 208.9 #OWGR points at Valderrama. That's almost 5% of all points earned in his career https://t.co/0Etmw7gcWV
— Nosferatu (@VC606) October 22, 2017
.@TheSergioGarcia results at Valderrama:
T7,T5,T7,T7,2,2,T2,T34,T4,T10,1,3,(T1)
So far, he earned here a total of 184.9 #OWGR points!
— Nosferatu (@VC606) October 19, 2017
He's not finished with the 2's, you know. Never saw so many 2's in such a small space on a scorecard… @joostluiten #ValderramaMasters pic.twitter.com/mukyGQL6bw
— Nosferatu (@VC606) October 20, 2017
Starting with two sub-70 rounds at Valderrama.
Ben Evans is the first to do that since 2010. ? pic.twitter.com/L0xGVWcbh1
— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) October 20, 2017