J.J. Spaun won the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth after an incredible back nine on Sunday. Spaun made four birdies in his last five holes to reach 17 under par, two strokes ahead of Rory McIlroy, Adam Scott, Aaron Rai and Manuel Elvira.
Several players had a chance to win the tournament, but none more than Elvira. The Spaniard would have beaten Spaun with a birdie on the par-5 18th hole, or forced him into a playoff with a par. Unfortunately, Elvira made a double bogey on the last hole and left the golf course in tears.
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J.J. Spaun passes on Rory McIlroy advice to Manuel Elvira
Manuel Elvira opted to lay up with an iron off the 18th tee, finding the fairway, but his second layup went into the fairway bunker. He then hit his approach over the green, leaving himself a horrible chip over the greenside bunker in front of the grandstand.
Elvira duffed his chip into the sand, meaning he needed to hole out to force Spaun into a playoff. He hit a solid shot to six feet from the pin, but it was not enough to stay in the tournament. Elvira’s nightmare final hole took another turn for the worse when he missed his bogey putt, falling from solo runner-up to a share of second with three other players.
In his post-round press conference, J.J. Spaun said he stayed calm in the heat of the battle and offered encouragement to Elvira after his disappointing finish. He revealed the advice Rory McIlroy gave him after he lost a playoff at the Players Championship, which now applies to Elvira following his defeat.
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“Today, I felt really comfortable, and I think the experience at the Ryder Cup, winning the US Open – all these experiences pay off,” Spaun explained.
“Manuel is going to learn so much from this. Unfortunately, it was brutal to watch, but he’s going to know what he’s going to do from those mistakes. Rory said the same thing to me last year at The Players when I lost in the play-off: you have to go through these heartbreaks to eventually come out on top, and I think that’s right.”
Elvira will be particularly disappointed because he has never won on the DP World Tour. He may feel he blew his best opportunity to win an event, but he must take the positives from the experience. If he continues to play at that level, it surely won’t be long before he gets his first victory.
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