[Photo: Andrew Redington]
Manuel Elvira was flying high. The 30-year-old from Spain had just made eagle on the par-5 17th hole at Wentworth to tie J.J. Spaun for the lead of the prestigious BMW PGA Championship on the DP World Tour.
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Spaun was in the clubhouse at 17-under-par. Elvira had the par-5 home hole left so the stage was set – a birdie would deliver his first professional victory and a par, of course, would, at worst, send him into a playoff.
Elvira opted to hit an iron off the tee on 18 and found the fairway, but he was 232 metres (254 yards) from the pin and there is a creek that runs from the front right to the back left of the green. He decided to lay up to a comfortable number but the ball trailed left and found a fairway bunker, 101 metres from the flag.
On his third shot, the ball sailed well over the back of the green. But still, an up and down would get him into the playoff. But Elvira chunked the chip into a bunker, hit a good bunker shot out to five feet and two putted for a double-bogey 7.
Instead of winning, or even having a chance to win, Elvira cost himself a lot of money and dropped back into a second-place tie with Aaron Rai, Adam Scott and Rory McIlroy.
“Devastating that I hit the wrong shot at the right time on the lay up and left myself the toughest shot in the fairway bunker, and wasn’t able to pull it off,” he said.
“I’ve played some of the best golf probably of my life. I was in contention and I wasn’t really that nervous. Maybe coming off the 72nd hole but I managed to hit a good tee shot and unfortunately hit a bad second shot. It’s been a great week and I’m really glad for it.”
