Larrazabal joins short but illustrious list of Spaniards to win Amateur Championship

ALEJANDRO Larrazabal, a 22-year-old from Barcelona, followed in the distinguished footsteps of countrymen Jose Maria Olazabal and Sergio Garcia yesterday when he became only the third Spaniard in the 107-year history of the British Amateur Championship to capture the title at Royal Porthcawl on the south Wales coast.

Larrazabal, who claimed the notable scalps of current Spanish and Portuguese amateur champion Zane Scotland and Walker Cup player Jamie Elson on his journey to the final, staved off the spirited challenge of Wiltshire’s Martin Sell to win by one hole and claim the coveted crown as well as a tee-time for July’s Open Championship at Muirfield and an invitation to next season’s US Masters at Augusta National.

The young Spaniard, a graduate of the University of Coastal Carolina in America, had looked to be coasting to victory after going three holes up at the 27th hole of the 36-hole final, but Sell, a 23-year-old Amateur Championship debutant, produced a rousing late rally to level the match at 16. With Sell pulling his drive into the left hand rough at the par-five 17th, however, Larrazabal capitalised with a birdie-four before the young Englishman conceded the match on the final green.

"It feels amazing to win. For me to join Sergio and Jose Maria is unbelievable," said a jubilant Larrazabal at the end of a gruelling week of golf. "It was very nerve-wracking. When Martin levelled the match at 16 I just tried stay calm. I lost a ball on the 17th this morning and that was on my mind when I was about to drive but I just aimed down the middle and ended up with a birdie which was so important. When I hit my approach to within eight feet at the last I knew then I had won."

While many observers were surprised to see Larrazabal in the final, it would be fair to assume that it came as no shock to his family back in Spain, who are of an impeccable golfing pedigree. His mother, Elena, is a three-time Spanish Women’s Amateur champion and represented Spain in the Espirito Santo Trophy, the world team championship, while his father, Gustavo, played for Venezuela in the men’s equivalent, the Eisenhower Trophy. His younger brother Pablo, who has been carrying his sibling’s bag in Wales throughout week, also played in the men’s event in Berlin two years ago.

Like the young Spaniard, who followed in the family tradition by competing in the 1998 Eisenhower Trophy, Sell’s appearance in the last two could not have been predicted at the start of the week. Sell, a Wiltshire County player little known outside his native Swindon, who takes occasional short-term jobs at the town’s Honda car plant, only took up the game seriously at the age of 16 and was still playing off a handicap of 10 two years later. By that time, most talented young golfers are playing off scratch. Sell did not reach that mark until the age of 21.

"Unbelievable," was the Englishman’s response after he secured his final berth on Friday with a narrow one hole victory over Newmachar’s Graham Gordon, the sole Scottish representative in the last four.

" My main ambition at the start of the week was to make the qualifying cut and see how far I could get. I never knew I’d get this far. It’s beyond my wildest dreams."

On a turbulent outward half of the morning round yesterday which, between the two players, spawned a mixed bag of five bogeys, one double-bogey, two birdies and a concession, it was Larrazabal who emerged with a commanding three-hole advantage at the turn.

The Spaniard forced his way into a four-hole advantage with a birdie-three at the tenth and held that lead until Sell fashioned his first birdie of the day at the short 151-yard 14th to reduce the deficit to three.

A wretched bogey-five at 16 from Sell restored Larrazabal’s healthy advantage but a wayward tee-shot at 17 from the Spaniard which nestled in the treacherous Porthcawl rough and was never retrieved led to a concession and Sell went to lunch three-holes down.

The erratic pattern of play continued on the front nine of the second 18 holes with Larrazabal consolidating his lead with a birdie and a bogey to his opponent’s eagle and bogey. Sell hauled himself to within a hole of the Spaniard after following up a bogey from Larrazabal at ten with a birdie-two at the short 11th and restored parity at 15 with a par before the Spaniard clawed himself ahead again in a frantic climax to proceedings.

"I’m absolutely shattered," admitted a beaten Sell. "After squaring the match at 16 I was buzzing. I was determined to hit the 17th fairway because I’d had problems there all week. But I pulled it into the rough and could only hack out.

"If you’d told me at the start of the week that I would be playing in the final then I would’ve been delighted.

"It’s just disappointing to have come this far and lost."