Jorge Campillo came very close to winning the Estrella Damm NA Andalucía Masters, in which he was forced to calm his nerves to face an endless nine-hole playoff with Julien Guerrier, who was proclaimed champion. Previously, both had starred in a three-way duel with the Englishman Daniel Brown during the regular tournament, in which the Frenchman equaled the card of the Cáceres in the same 18. This led us to a playoff in which Jorge had better options than his rival, but ended up giving in. Curiously, Campillo won after six holes of playoff at the 2020 Qatar Masters, but this time it was not to be. The two players equaled the record for the longest playoff on the European Tour, which they now share with the 1989 Dutch Open, which José María Olazábal won.
Classification
After finishing, Campillo commented on his feelings before the Movistar Golf cameras: “It was a shame, in the end he had the luck of the winner. I played the playoff well, but I had a couple of putts to win that I think I shot well and they didn’t go in. I will continue trying to win in Spain. Now I am a little disappointed but it has been good this week.”
The final day at the Real Club de Golf de Sotogrande was heart-stopping. In the stellar match, Jorge with Julien Guerrier and Daniel Brown. At times the latter was left out of the fight until he made four birdies in a row between the 11th and the 14th. But the fact is that the day has been busy. The 10th hole was reached with equality between Jorge and Julien. In the 12th Guerrier took the lead from Campillo when he committed his first bogey of the tournament after 65 holes clean of errors. In the 13th, the Spaniard made par against a double bogey from the Frenchman and the Extremaduran returned to the front of the classification.
After playing the 14th, Campillo was two ahead, as he made a birdie. Everything got tight again with a bogey at 15 and with Guerrier saving par with his putt. Jorge’s lead dropped to one stroke. In the 16th, the ‘aggressive’ Brown, who this year led the British Open, over-braked and was already three behind the leader. On the 17th, Guerrier was about to send it into the lake from the tee while his rival placed it on the green. However, everything was even.
At 18, therefore, Campillo arrived with a lead of one. Her start was regular and she was her perfect rival; Immediately afterwards, both made mistakes in their shots to the green. Poor subsequent recovery on the part of the two golfers, but Guerrier saved par again thanks to his putt.
The tiebreaker
On the first hole of the playoff, Jorge made a huge putt from four meters to stay alive. In the second, both golfers were again erratic. Finally, in the third, Campillo took the fairway and hit a second impeccable and direct shot to the flag that gave him a very clear birdie option that he did not convert.
The fourth hole of the playoff took the players to 17, but there was no way, although the Spaniard had a birdie putt that he almost holed out. In the fifth, again on the 18th, the two players were close to making two long putts, but they had to resort to the sixth attempt to break the tie, again on the 17th.
Nothing at all for a seventh and interesting hole (18). Guerrier almost holed out from the front green and Jorge narrowly missed his putt. As fate would have it, two players who had finished the tournament at -21 did not make a single birdie. The eighth of the playoff (17) the Extremadura native once again left it more open on the green and once again his ball was about to go in after throwing the putt. Already in the ninth start things went wrong for Campillo, and after his second impact he went to the bunker; Guerrier made par and won.
The ‘Armada’
On the other hand, both the fourth round and Jon Rahm’s tournament could be described as good, but to win this week in Sotogrande that was not enough. The curious thing is that the ‘León de Barrika’ has been very successful from the tee, but again the irons to the green failed. He was five shots off the lead when he made an eagle on the 12th hole, but there was the push of the winner of two majors. Great performance this week for David Puig -twelfth with 275-, Ángel Hidalgo -twentieth with 278- and Eugenio López Chacarra and Adrián Otaegui -twenty-eighth with 279-.
