2023-05-29 01:27:00
Sleepless nights, tossing and turning on the bed. Thinking why he made a mistake in choosing such a club, or suffered that bad ball bounce, or thought wrongly about the strategy of that hole. The countless whys and wherefores that golf holds, a sport that crushes the mind and often paralyzes. But Emiliano Grillo left his nightmares behind and won again on the PGA Tour after 7 years, 7 months and 10 days, with which the stage for access to the majors was opened again and he will not have to worry about saving the circuit card for two years.
It is a real relief for this 30-year-old from Chaco, who was established in the Charles Schwab Challenge, in Fort Worth Texas, the same tournament that Roberto De Vicenzo won in 1957, at the Colonial Country Club. Small difference in prize money: while the Master won a check for 5,000 dollars on that occasion, the native of Resistencia pocketed 1,566,000, in tune with the astronomical figures of current sport.
Grillo, whose first coronation had been as a rookie on the tour, in Napa, California (2015), had to suffer to win his second trophy: he prevailed on the second playoff hole against the American Adam Schenk, with a birdie against pair. After 72 holes, both golfers had equalized in 272 strokes (-8). It happened that at the tee of the 18th hole, the man from Chaco had two shots ahead of Schenk and Harry Hall, with a total of -10. However, a poor tee shot to the right sent the ball sailing down a fairway with a reflecting pool and paid with a penalty stroke. Complicated, he finished that final par 4 with double bogey (he signed 68, -2) and gave Schenk, one of his pursuers, the chance to agree to a tiebreaker; Hall was put out of the race with a bogey on the 72nd hole that dropped him to -7 total.
Both Grillo and Schenk scored the pair in the first extra chapter. On the second hole of the tiebreaker, the par 3 of the 16th, a lucky spike -the ball barely exceeded the threat of the bunker by centimeters- caused the man from Chaco to have a putt of one and a half meters for birdie. Instead, the North American took the wrong club or overpowered the tee and went behind the green. He faced a downhill shot from the rough, and still left it very close to save par. In any case, Grillo holed the putt and phenomenal relief came for this player trained in the AAG, who waited for victory for 2779 days and was moved to tears in his first interview after the conquest.
“This title is everything to me, I work very hard all year long, nights out there without sleep, nights that are a bit long, but it is worth the effort of every second of my family. I have a 14-month-old boy who makes things a little more difficult than we would like but he is the most fun in the world, so I am looking forward to playing again next week”, commented the champion.
Two years ago, Grillo assured in an interview with La NACION: “I’m not in golf to be one of the crowd, but I know that it is not easy and that there are many people who think the same as me”, The player who has just won a fortune and can already beat the next US Open and British Open, in addition to the Masters and the PGA Championship 2024, was then trying to regain his calm after some ups and downs throughout his career and several wasted situations, in which he was about to win. He was always impeccable from tee to green, but the putter betrayed him time and time again and led him to squander his chances.
Actually, the biggest problem was unlocking the mental issue and at that time I was already working on it: “I learned over time that anxiety doesn’t get me anywhere, at least not where I’m aiming. The psychological side of golf is very simple: the one who gets angry loses, but sometimes anger also serves as encouragement. Although it is a very fine line between something that adds or that subtracts ”.
JONATHAN BACHMAN – GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA
If before his bad thoughts ate him up inside and clouded him, until he collapsed in the middle of the tournament before his first mistakes when he was packed, the maturity of his 30 years placated him and gave him another perspective. The ultimate example was this tournament that took place at the Colonial Course: instead of getting frustrated at having wasted the chance to close the tournament on the 72nd hole, he went to practice swings before the eventual playoff with a smile, and next to some boys, Peyton and Sutton, who were fiddling with some sticks.
Grillo learned to enjoy the tour and relax, like when last February he surprised by showing Messi’s shirt during the Phoenix Open, on the mythical par 3 of the TPC Scottsdale 16, as a celebration of the World Cup. The arrival of “The Heir” had a lot to do with achieving this poise, as he gracefully baptized his first son, André, on Instagram at the beginning of March 2022. A baby who came into the world as the fruit of love with Alexia, the woman that changed his life. Undoubtedly, having raised a family was an ideal complement to a career that is gaining new strength from today.
“It is a pride to be now on the wall of champions with Roberto De Vicenzo, every time one passes by and sees his name it is a pride. And now my name will be close to his, hopefully in the Open I can also add my name to his”, Grillo is excited, determined not to take on so much pressure and with a wait that has come to an end.
Now, this title opens a formidable scenario for him, access to the majors -above all, the return to Augusta National next year- and the possibility of reinvigorating oneself at a very propitious age. The man from Chaco can be inspired by Tony Finau, who waited five years after winning his first title at the Puerto Rico Open (2016) and, as of 2021, he was crowned five more times…
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