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Almost eight hours on the golf course and 28 holes was not the ideal plan for the physical problems of Eugenio López-Chacarra, but the Spaniard, already more recovered from a hard year, showed his predatory instinct and wore down his prey to achieve victory, his second professional after the LIV Golf in Bangkok with which he dazzled the world of golf last year and the first on the Asian Tour.
It is also the International Series tournaments, the St Andrews Bay Championship. with a superior status, which brings together many of the players who usually compete in the LIV Golf. The Spaniard had to suffer a lot against the veteran Australian player Matt Jones of 43 years. In total of 10 playoff holes, the longest in the history of the Asian Tour in a final that never came. Twelve birdies made the 18th hole in the first six playoff holes played, a sequence that was repeated in a loop, on the fourth hole, Chacarra seemed to have the title in his pocket, but Jones took a miraculous birdie with an approach from outside the green that caused both players had to return to tee to continue with sudden death.
From the sixth hole and as the afternoon fell in St. Andrews, fatigue came, a couple of slips in the swing of Chacarra, the first mistakes, in fact after making six birdies to the 18th hole in nine times that Chacarra played it in the last two hours of the tournament, fate wanted a pair in this last par five, It was enough for the Spaniard to take the victory. Matt Jones missed from less than two meters the final blow. Both had finished the 72-hole regular tournament with a score of -19. "It's been a very long day," Chacarra said before receiving the trophy. "Very happy with what I have achieved, Matt has had a tremendous day, he has played 10 spectacular holes, he is a great player, the Asian Tour is doing incredible things and growing the game of golf, I am very grateful," concluded the 23-year-old.
Chacarra finds the relief of victory in a very hard year, where physical problems have accompanied him throughout the season. The Spaniard has made real efforts to stay in competition and fulfill his commitments to LIV Golf and has given up playing other tournaments such as the previous ones for the majors to preserve his physique. And although he has experienced an improvement, the discomfort still persists and the Spaniard continues to work and undergo medical tests to recover completely.
In addition to the victory of Chacarra, we must highlight the good role of another of the jewels of the Spanish golf quarry, David Puig who was leader after the first 36 holes, although a bad weekend relegated him to 14th place. Sergio García and Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño could not make the cut of the tournament. The Spaniard who has barely been able to add points in the world ranking, since the LIV tournaments are still not computed, was close to the 2,000th place in the world, with this victory he will get into the top 500.