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Thursday, 19 November 2015

Q School Stressful - Paul Dunne

Paul Dunne has confessed that he found the final round of Qualifying School more stressful than his Open adventure earlier this year.

The Wicklow man was famously tied for the Open lead going into the final round before falling down the order at St Andrews in July.

Ahead of the last round of European Tour qualifying in Girona today, Dunne sat in 12th knowing that the top 25 plus ties would collect a card for next season.

After finishing tied for 13th spot, the 22-year-old told RTÉ 2fm’s Game on: “It’s different. You’ve to finish in the top 25 this week, you’re just trying to do as well as you can.

“But then going into today was a bit weird because I was in 12th.

“You don’t know whether to try to push on and go forward or play more conservative and just to try stay in the top 25 so it’s a different mindset.

“It was a difficult one for me to really know how to think about how I want to play.

“Mentally, it was more difficult to know what to take on and what not to. It played a lot of mind games with me.

“This one was probably more stressful and the other one [The Open] was more exciting.”

“This one was probably more stressful and the other one was more exciting"

Qualifying School consisted of 14 rounds, including six this week and the Greystones man admitted the schedule was taking its toll.

“[I’m] wrecked, to the honest,” he said before revealing he plans to play in South Africa and Australia in the next fortnight.

“The first five rounds weren’t too bad but today was quite stressful, start to finish, just trying to get through the line.

“It’s great, it’s been a long few months trying to get through so I’m glad it’s finally over.

“If you looked at it simply, all I had to do was finish in the top 20 three in tournaments in a row.

"When you break it down and put it in a simpler term it seems a lot more achievable.

“I knew if I played well for three weeks I’d get through without much hassle but the last few stages were a bit more stressful than I would have liked.

“I played well around the tougher courses, the tougher courses suited me more. I was delighted to finally get over the line.”

Sunday, 27 October 2013

Fernandez-Castaño Wins BMW Masters

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Gonzalo Fernandez-Castaño produced a stunning final round to win the first Final Series event on The Race to Dubai at the BMW Masters presented by SRE Group.

The Spaniard survived a late wobble at the last – he found two bunkers en route to a double bogey six, but 17 holes of flawless ball striking had given him sufficient room to claim a seventh European Tour title with a closing 68 and 11 under par total at Lake Malaren.

That was one shot ahead of Seve Trophy team-mate Francesco Molinari and Thailand's Thongchai Jaidee, the Italian coming from six shots off the pace at the start of the day.

The Ryder Cup star’s chances looked to have disappeared with a bogey at the 12th despite a front nine of 34, but Molinari then went on a brilliant scoring run, making an eagle on the par five 13th and following that with four birdies in succession to join Fernandez-Castaño on 10 under before eventually completing a superb 64.

Fernandez-Castaño edged back into the lead with a birdie on the 13th and looked to have sealed a comfortable win with further birdies at the 15th and 17th, where he chipped in from just over the green.

He made hard work of the last, though, finding sand off the tee and another bunker with his third shot before holding his nerve to complete his first victory since last year's Open d’Italia.

"I knew it wasn't going to be an easy round, especially the way I started. I started hitting the ball pretty bad," Fernandez-Castaño said. "But my caddie kept me cool and told me how good I had been hitting the ball through the week and I played fantastic after that.

"On the last I played too conservative and it was a fighting six at the end for sure.

“BMW is one of the great supporters of The European Tour through the years, they know how to run events and they make the players feel so comfortable.

“It's pretty much like playing at home and it's also great to see the crowds this week. I think they have been pretty amazing.”

Guthrie finished two shots behind on nine under after a closing 71, with Thomas Björn, Peter Uihlein and Pablo Larrazábal a shot further back.

Defending champion Peter Hanson finished seven under after a superb closing 63, the Swede having started the tournament - which does not have a halfway cut - with a round of 79.

"I was playing with Paul McGinley, the Ryder Cup Captain, and I guess I wanted to impress him," Hanson joked after a round containing 11 birdies and two bogeys.

"I had no expectations on coming back from injury and I was obviously very rusty on Thursday. But I have felt better and better throughout the week and to finish with a round like that is very pleasing. As a defence, it wasn't bad!"

The win moves Fernandez-Castaño into the top five on The Race to Dubai and greatly improves his chance of a Ryder Cup debut at Gleneagles next year.

“It's perfect timing because it's Ryder Cup qualification period right now,” he added. “It doesn't get any better than this; first event of the first ever Final Series and I got the victory.”

The Final Series remains in China for next week’s WGC-HSBC Champions, before heading to Turkey and then Dubai, where the top 60 will compete for the DP World Tour Championship.