Pro reveals the cut and money that causes ‘tremors’

Pablo Larrazabal says he started thinking about his wife and son.

And money for them.

And the cut.

And how he hadn’t done one of those since early February.

And immediately, everything came crashing down.

Week after week, event after event, we look at the pros’ results and try to work out the pros’ process to get to those numbers, and on Friday, we got one of the best looks, albeit under unfortunate circumstances. of Larrazabal The thoughts came after his second round in the KLM Openthis week’s DP World Tour stop and belowyou can watch his entire interview, which was shared by the tour’s social media team.

Larrazabal is a 22-year-old professional. The 43-year-old Spaniard has won nine times on the DP World Tour, and he’s ranked as high as 50th in the world – and for a few hours on Friday, he believed he was playing as well as he’s ever played. “Top five of my career,” he said. After an even-par 71 during Thursday’s first round and a bogey to start Friday’s second round at the Amsterdam International Golf Course, Larrazabal caught fire. He birdied 11, his second hole of the day after starting on the back nine. He birdied 12. He made 15. On the 2nd, from the left side of the green, Larrazabal chipped in for birdie, and he was three under for his round and three under for his tournament, all of which were a godsend. He had fought. He had missed eight straight cuts. His best finish this season has been a tie for 33rd. On the par-5 3rd, he was 125 yards out after two shots.

His third shot found water. He doubled down.

After a par at 4, his 13th hole of the round, Larrazabal had 18 feet left to birdie the 5th hole. He missed that.

With 1 foot, 7 inches left on the level, he missed again.

Then he missed again, this time from 1 foot, 9 inches away. Larrazabal made his fourth putt on the hole, and his third from within 2 feet. Another double whammy.

But maybe he was still good. He split his 15th, 16th and 17th holes of the round, and on his final hole, Larrazabal was in the fairway after his putt. He then hit his second shot. Bogey. He shot a two-over 73. He was two-over for the tournament.

He then answered three questions.

First question: Seventy-three there today. I can see you’re disappointed. Can I ask you how you feel? Why disappointment today?

Larrazabal talked about his start. And what followed. And what was he thinking about?

And how he began to tremble.

“Well, I played the first 11 holes, the best match, the best five of my career,” Larrazabal said. “Three-under at the time. Just looking at the leaderboard and knowing I could make one or two more, I was in there. And then I missed the third shot on the 3rd hole, on No. 3, put it in the water and made two there. It’s not easy not to think about the cut. The last cut I made was in the first week of Qatar in February.

“And suddenly it doesn’t matter how many rounds of golf you’ve played in your career — I think it’s over 480. I start shaking. That’s how hard this game is and how ugly it gets sometimes. Those four shots on No. 5, they were all about swinging. I couldn’t make it on the hole from 2 feet. The first one was no shorter than 3 feet. I hit the hole and on the last hole, knowing my ball was on the fairway, I thought it was done, but my mind told me don’t go right, I had 40, 50 feet to the left to put my 9-iron.

“That’s how hard this game is.”

Second question: Can I ask how important it is for you to fight, still make cuts and make the weekend at the DP World Tour?

Larrazabal spoke about his family. He talked about money. He talked about grinding.

“I have a family to support and I have a child to take care of,” he said. “Out of 480 tournaments in my career, probably the first five tournaments of my career and the last five I thought about the money, and that’s not easy to play.

“And it’s tough. This game is about grinding. It doesn’t matter if you’re down by four or six, it’s all about hanging in there and fighting and that’s what I’m trying to do today, but my nerves let me down in the last five holes.”

Third question: Pablo, not many players would have come and talked after their round today. I just want to say thank you so much and I know you will be back stronger in Italy in a few weeks.

Here, Larrazabal looked at a leaderboard.

In fact, he said, he could still make the cut. The second round was postponed to Saturday. According to the DP World Tour’s online leaderboard, Larrazabal was two strokes off the projected cut, but stranger things have happened.

“I hope I can make it because it means a lot to me and I think my game is better than ever,” he said. “The long game is – not even when I just to win golf tournaments, I hit the ball as well as I do now.

“It’s about continuing to fight and hopefully tomorrow morning the wind will pick up a bit and allow me to play the weekend.”

“>