October 22, 2013 – Nacho Elvira has achieved the first title of his career on the Challenge Tour by a single shot at the Foshan Open, China. A final putt of 12 feet, which he holed with a cool and calculating mind, was the key to avoid the play-off, and consequently to climb from 50th to 13th in the ranking of the Tour and to start thinking about taking the leap to the European Tour.

After having a three-shot lead at the end of the third round, the Spanish Ping player ended the tournament with 72 and 14 under par, enough to rid him of all rivals. He only needed to finish within the top 45 to compete in the final of the Dubai Festival City Challenge, in two weeks time, but instead he won with a refined game, enjoying himself to the full.

In the first two rounds he carded 68 twice, but in the third he went even further with 66, which allowed ​​the Spanish player to reveal some of his secrets. Nacho mentioned that some words of advice and a new putter he received from the current Ranking leader of the Challenge Tour, Italian Andrea Pavan, as the main reasons behind his recent improvement in performance.

Nacho and Andrea are good friends, having shared a house while studying at Texas A & M University a couple of years ago in the U.S. Tired of missing putts in the early part of this season, Elvira turned to Pavan for help during the Mugello Tuscany Open. Since then, Nacho has achieved three Top-10 in six tournaments, and now the long-awaited victory.

“My recent results have been very pleasing, and I owe a lot of that to Andrea. He gave me a putting lesson in Italy and he also gave me a putter, which is really working well for me so I definitely owe him a drink or two” said Nacho Elvira on Friday. “Seeing what he’s done this year has really inspired me, and it would be great if we could get onto the Tour together,” he confessed.

So in MyGolfWay.com we were curious to know what the putter was that Andrea had supplied Nacho Elvira, and which he weilded at the last putt of victory on the 18th green of Foshan Golf Club. Evidently, as a Callaway player, Andrea Pavan had given him a Odyssey putter. More specifically a White Hot Pro V-Line like the one in the picture. A face-balanced mallet with full-offset shaft with a double-bend is what provided the Cantabrian player with fortune on the greens this week, with 20 birdies and a cheque for €41,234.

It was tough to take on Sam Walker, Shiv Kapur and Tyrrell Hatton, his closest competitors, runner-ups by only one shot despite their scoring better on Sunday. Yes, Nacho holed a putt of 12 ft with the confidence of a seasoned champion rather than as a first-time winner.

“I hadn’t made a putt all day, but I said to my caddie on the last that if I was going to make one putt, now would be a good time to do it. It was an incredible feeling, and I’ll never forget this day. I didn’t play as well as I would’ve liked today, but I made the best up and down of my life for par from the edge of the water on the 17th, then to hole that putt on the last under such pressure was amazing,” said Nacho Elvira.

Congratulations to Nacho, and thanks to Andrea!

Pictures: Richard Castka, European Challenge Tour and Foshan Open.

Por REDACCIÓN