It wasn't the Sunday Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño had hoped for. Round of 73 shots and too much lost ground. Sixteen places escaped out from under his fingertips in the last eighteen holes, a significant number that leaves a bad aftertaste. However, the overall outlook on the Shell Houston Open should be a good one. There a lot of positive points for the Madrid native to take home. A step forward in the season.
Gonzalo finished in 43º place, an end result that could seem like it came up short when he was among the top 20 for the first nine holes, but what really means his second best performance of the season in the PGA Tour. Only the top 30 in Puerto Rico tops his participation in the Golf Club of Houston. However, beyond the pure and simple scores, six under par, the best part of the week was coming up on the good vibes again in his long game. Gonzalo will leave Texas having caught nearly seventy percent of the greens, his best stats this season, only matched by the Frys.com Open, first event of the PGA Tour in October. In other words, his drive and, above all, his irons were on to something this week, and he should leave with that.
The playing conditions changed today. It was a rainy session and a bit more cold. It wasn't easy to adapt. Gonzalo struggled from the tee and he had to fight his way out to pull through the round. He squeezed by with six fairways and eleven greens, with five bogeys and four birdies. He worked hard in order to fully take advantage of each and every shot, which was at least compensated by the fact that he didn't let his game stray too far off.
Gonzalo will rest next week and will be back in action the following week, in the RBC Heritage in Hilton Head.
