They say that Valderrama is made for drama and there was a lot of it on Sunday when underdog John Catlin stunned two-time major champion Martin Kaymer at the Andalucia Masters.
Catlin did the improbable. He went the entire round without a birdie and survived four bogeys. Winning with a final round 75 is an anomaly in professional golf but Catlin pulled off the seemingly impossible thanks to some choking by Kaymer down the stretch.
Valderrama played the toughest it had in four days with firm greens and a breeze that made it tough to keep the ball in the fairway. “The greens were getting firmer and firmer — fairways were a must,” said Catlin who started the day at two-under par (the only man under par), two better than the German star who hadn’t won since the 2014 U.S. Open at Pinehurst.
Catlin took a one-shot lead to the final nine when Kaymer’s tee shot at the ninth went way off line and lost. He would end up with double-bogey, the first of his many mistakes.
Kaymer took the lead with a two-shot swing at the par three 12th where he made birdie to Catlin’s bogey. But Kaymer gave it right back with bogey at 13. Catlin bogeyed 14 to go two-over and Kaymer joined him with a bogey of his own at the par three 15th. Kaymer had golden opportunities to wrap it up down the stretch. He had just nine feet for birdie at the 16th and missed that then missed from just six feet for birdie at 17 after Catlin went long in three and left the door wide open.
It all came down to the 18th. Up ahead, Justin Harding missed his chance to post two-over when he doubled the 18th, leaving it up to Kaymer and Catlin. Catlin found the right fairway, Kaymer the right rough. From 196, Kaymer over-cut his approach into the right greenside bunker while Catlin applied the heat and found the green from 183, albeit 55 feet from the cup. It was then that Kaymer hit an awful shot from the sand. “Horribly nervous,” was how one observer described it. Indeed it was, it went long, over the green, into the fringe, 18 feet away.
Catlin hit a marvelous approach putt to a foot then watched Kaymer’s chip for par with a seven-iron stop agonizingly on the lip. Bogey for Kaymer, tap-in victory par for Catlin.
“I think it hasn’t sunk in,” Catlin said after the stunning turn of events over the final three holes. “The nerves were going nuts the whole round. Even when things were not quite going my way in the early part of that back nine, I knew if I just stayed patient and kept going I would give myself a chance.”
He did exactly that and emerged the winner, fulfilling his goal at the start of the season. “That was one of my goals in 2019 when I earned my card, to win on the European Tour, and I wasn’t able to win in 2019 so it’s very nice to get it done this week and especially on a beautiful golf course, and very demanding one.”
How difficult was Valderrama? Catlin’s 75 gave him a winning score of two-over par while Kaymer was solo second at three-under. Lee Westwood finished Sunday with the week’s best round, a four-under par 67 that moved him 51 spots into the top 10.
