Gonzalo Fernández Castaño didn’t manage to earn a spot in the US Open in the qualifying round on the Brookside and the Lakes courses in Columbus, Ohio. The Madrid native had a pretty solid performance; he shot a 70 and a 68 and was not at all far from succeeding. However, in the end he was left just two shots short of the objective.
Gonzalo started the round off with a 70 at Brookside. He continued to fight, intact, but with the necessity of a really low round on The Lakes course in order to have a real opportunity at going forward. The round didn’t begin as he had hoped, with six consecutive pars and a bogey on the 7th hole, par 5. At that point, it seemed as though he had very little chance of getting through. Nevertheless, Gonzalo kept battling it out and he finished the qualifying round off strong. On the last ten holes he had a partial score of five under par, with six birdies and just one bogey. He shot a 68 and ended up just two shots from 14º, a placement that would have allowed him to play in the tiebreaker today.
Gonzalo left with a bittersweet sensation. The sweet part is that he played well, he had options and, above all, he managed to accumulate a notable number of birdies over the 36 holes played all in one day. The bitter part is obvious: not qualifying for the US Open.
Be that as it may, Gonzalo will attempt to get the bitter taste out of his mouth this week in Memphis. Just after finishing the qualifying round, he got in the car with his caddie and drove almost six hundred miles from Columbus to TPC Southwind, home to the FedEX St. Jude Classic, PGA Tour tournament in which Gonzalo will compete in attempts to continue moving up in the rankings.
