Adri

Arnaus

The 27-year-old Arnaus, making his 84th career DPWT start, began the final round at PGA Catalunya Golf and Wellness seven strokes behind 54-hole leader Bekker, and he carded a final-round, 7-under 65 to finish at 11-under 277 and force the playoff. Arnaus and Becker made par on five trips down the 18th hole, but when they went to the 17th for the sixth hole of sudden death, Bekker made bogey to give Arnaus the title. “It’s a dream come true,” said Arnaus, who had previously finished runner-up five times on the European tour and was appearing in his third playoff in a span of seven months. “I’ve been looking for this one for a while. To be able to come through here, where I practice in the summers, they take care of me so well. I know the course quite well. I’ve been able to play some really good golf and to do it here is special.” On the season, Arnaus has made five cuts in eight starts with a T-2 at the MyGolfLife Open, T-8 at the Magical Kenya Open and T-9 at the Ras al Khaimah Classic. Arnaus is scheduled to head to England for this week’s Betfred British Masters hosted by Danny Willett at The Belfry. He’s made the cut in two of three starts in the event, with a best finish of T-43 in 2021.

The 27-year-old Arnaus started the final round two strokes behind 54-hole leader Hennie du Plessis and recorded a 5-under 67 to finish regulation tied at 22-under 266 with Larrazabal and Englishman Jordan Smith. Arnaus made bogey at the first playoff hole, dropping out as Smith and Larrazabal made birdie. Larrazabal carded another birdie on their second trip around 18 to secure his first win since the 2019 Alfred Dunhill Championship. The runner-up result marked the fifth of Arnaus’ career (81 DPWT starts) and his third consecutive top-10 finish this season. He was T-8 last week at the Magical Kenya Open and T-9 at the Ras al Khaimah Classic in February. He’s missed one cut in five starts in 2022 and also was T-20 in his first start of the year at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. Arnaus will stay in South Africa for this week’s Steyn City Championship at The Club at Steyn City in Johannesburg.

The 27-year-old Arnaus finished second at the 2019 event, held at Karen CC in Nairobi. The event is at Muthaiga GC this year, but Arnaus still looks to draw off his T-2 finish from his last tournament appearance where he tied for second with South Africa’s Louis de Jager and Justin Harding – one shot behind winner Guido Migliozzi. Arnaus has made two cuts in three starts this season, finishing T-20 at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship and T-9 at the Ras al Khaimah Classic. He has five top 10s last season, posting three in his last five events of the year including a solo second at the Open de Espana and T-9 at the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.

The 27-year-old Spaniard, No. 140 in the world rankings and still chasing his first DP World Tour win, finished with a 6-under 66 at Jumeirah Golf Estates’ Earth Course to tie at 11-under 277 with Paul Casey, Shane Lowry, John Catlin, Joachim Hansen and Sam Horsfield (Collin Morikawa won at 17 under). Earlier in November at the Portugal Masters, Arnaus finished T-8, and in October at the Open de Espana, he recorded his fourth career runner-up finish on home soil after finishing regulation tied with fellow countryman Rafa Cabrera Bello at 19-under 265. Arnaus lost with a par on the first extra hole of the playoff at Club de Campo Villa de Madrid. On the season, he made 16 cuts in 24 starts with six top 10s.

The 26-year-old Arnaus, who is still chasing his first European Tour win, finished at 19-under 265 at Club de Campo Villa de Madrid and lost with a par on the first extra hole. “I felt like I played the golf that I wanted to come out and play,” he said. “At the end it was aggressive golf, trying to get all the putts to the hole having all my chances. It just wasn’t meant to be, I guess, but I put myself in a good spot and I can’t wait to do it again next week.” Arnaus’ week was highlighted by a bogey-free, 7-under 64 in the second round, and he shot back-to-back rounds of 67 on the weekend, combatting two bogeys with two eagles on Sunday. The second-place finish boosted Arnaus to No. 146 in the world rankings and from 74th to 37th in the Race to Dubai. On the season, he’s made 13 cuts in 20 starts with three other top-10 finishes. He’ll make his second start in this week’s Andalucia Masters at Real Club Valderrama, where he finished T-2 in 2019.

Last week, the 26-year-old Spaniard shot 65-71-66-66 (16 under) to finish T-8 at the Tenerife Open for his second top 10 in 2021. The week prior at the Gran Canaria Lopesan Open, he posted four straight subpar rounds (69-66-69-68, 8 under total) and finished T-62. His Spanish swing has been a good rebound from three missed cuts following a promising start to his season: After finishing T-12 at Abu Dhabi, he followed up with a T-8 at the Dubai Desert Classic. Last year, Arnaus was 13-for-18 in cuts made and had four top-10 finishes including a T-3 in Dubai. In 2018 -- his first full season on the European Tour -- the Texas A&M alum recorded three runner-up finishes and advanced all the way to the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai, where he finished T-28.

The World No. 92 started well enough with red numbers at 12 and 15 but hit a bump in the road with back-to-back bogeys at 16 and 17 along with a par 5 at 18. But it was all gravy coming home as he birdied the 1st hole and then ticked 4, 5, 7 and 8 to climb to within one of the lead. The 25-year-old missed the cut here last year but was on the radar for #TeamCurrentForm after posting third place at the Dubai Desert Classic on Sunday. He’s also made his last eight cuts on the European Tour to show that he’s added consistency to his game.

A sixth top six finish in his 35th European Tour start and whilst he has three times finished second when contending, this effort, when he was never in with a shout of the win, displayed other qualities. Because the conditions were difficult and he coped in some style. He knew as much when, having made birdie three times at the second this week, he made bogey there on Sunday morning. But he responded with a birdie-4 at the very next hole and there were no more errors all day. He ticked the par-4 sixth and the shorter par-4 17th. He leaps into the Race to Dubai top 20 with this result and probably the world top 100 as well. He was two shots outside the play-off.

This Moving Day hurt the young local tyro and he might find himself wondering if his experiences on the 18th hole at Club de Campo Villa de Madrid provide a clue as to his future. Certainly he has given the impression of being a little impetuous on it. Indeed you might almost argue his performance there each day has represented his entire day in microcosm. In R1 he was on a charge and attacked with driver, made birdie. In R2 he had just missed a short birdie putt and was rash with his repeat attempt with driver; he made bogey. On this day he had been struggling all day and went for broke; he was fortunate to only make bogey. Before then he had ticked the fourth, seventh and 16th, but had made mistakes at the sixth and ninth before getting into trouble at the 14th. He’d covered that par-5 in six blows ahead of the weekend; he doubled that number on Saturday alone. He starts Sunday seven swings back of new leader Jon Rahm.

What sensational scenes from the 24-year-old, and also a bizarrely similar result to Thursday. Playing with Jon Rahm and Rafa Cabrera Bello the youngster would have been forgiven for being a little overawed and yet there has been no suggestion of anything of the sort until the 36th hole. Admittedly he started from different tees (the first in round two), but he thrilled the fans again with that markedly mirror-like second lap. He had bogeys at the second both days, birdie-2s at the ninth and eagle-3s at the 14th both days too (on Friday from just 10’0"). He also collected a hat-trick of birdies, this time at the fourth, fifth and sixth. And he even ticked one hole early in the back nine both days, in round two at the tenth. However, having seemed confident all day he appeared a little cocky at the 18th. He drove wildly at the green, was fortunate to have a shot, missed the green, his recovery went through the green and he eventually made bogey for a first ET halfway lead.