Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano Archives - Golf Digest Middle East https://mot-backup.golfdigestme.com/tag/gonzalo-fernandez-castano/ Golf Instruction, Equipment, Courses, Travel, News Mon, 12 Dec 2022 10:31:55 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.2 https://mot-backup.golfdigestme.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/gd-favicon.ico Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano Archives - Golf Digest Middle East https://mot-backup.golfdigestme.com/tag/gonzalo-fernandez-castano/ 32 32 European Tour pros get into heated (and random) Twitter spat over rules controversy from 2013 https://mot-backup.golfdigestme.com/european-tour-pros-get-into-heated-and-random-twitter-spat-over-rules-controversy-from-2013/ https://mot-backup.golfdigestme.com/european-tour-pros-get-into-heated-and-random-twitter-spat-over-rules-controversy-from-2013/#respond Thu, 17 Jan 2019 06:39:05 +0000 https://golfdigestme.com/?p=23434 Another tweak by golf’s governing bodies wound up causing a heated—and random—Twitter spat between two European Tour winners on Wednesday.

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]]> Simon Dyson marks his ball on the 15th hole during the second round of the 2013 BMW Masters. (Andrew Redington)

By Alex Myers
The ability to leave the flagstick in while putting and taking drops from knee height have drawn the most attention of the new rules of golf that went into effect on Jan. 1. However, another tweak by golf’s governing bodies wound up causing a heated—and random—Twitter spat between two European Tour winners on Wednesday.

The fun started when Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano, following his first round of 2019 at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship on Wednesday, commented on the new rule that allows players to repair spike marks on the green and said, “it will take some time to get used to it.” Before adding this jab out of left field: “Unless you are Simon Dyson and you have been doing it for years.”

Shots. Fired. Of course, Simon couldn’t hear those shots, which were a reference to Dyson being fined and suspended by the European Tour in 2013 for illegally tapping down spike marks in an event eventually won by Fernandez-Castano, because he wasn’t tagged in Gonzalo’s tweet. But it turns out Fernandez-Castano, 38, had a good reason for that, one which also indicated that bad blood between these two golfers who have combined to win 13 European Tour titles is nothing new.

Fernandez-Castano doubled down on dragging up the incident from more than five years ago a little later:

Eventually, word got to Dyson, who responded with a series of tweets indicating he’s moved on from the controversy:

Dyson, 41, is not playing in Abu Dhabi or things could have really gotten awkward on Thursday.

 

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]]> https://mot-backup.golfdigestme.com/european-tour-pros-get-into-heated-and-random-twitter-spat-over-rules-controversy-from-2013/feed/ 0 European Tour’s regular-season finale extends into Monday in Spain, with futures of several veteran players unclear https://mot-backup.golfdigestme.com/european-tours-regular-season-finale-extends-into-monday-in-spain-with-futures-of-several-veteran-players-unclear/ https://mot-backup.golfdigestme.com/european-tours-regular-season-finale-extends-into-monday-in-spain-with-futures-of-several-veteran-players-unclear/#respond Sun, 21 Oct 2018 20:08:20 +0000 https://golfdigestme.com/?p=21337 Five days but only three rounds, that is going to be the story of the Andelucia Valderrama Masters.

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]]> Quality Sport Images
Defending champion Sergio Garcia holds the lead in the third and now final round of the Andalucia Valderrama Masters, which will have a Monday finish due to bad weather.

By John Huggan
Five days but only three rounds, that is going to be the story of the Andelucia Valderrama Masters. Previously reduced to 54 holes due to bad weather early, the tournament backed by the Sergio Garcia Foundation—and led by the eponymous host—was further delayed by thunder and lightning storms during what should have been the fourth and final day.

Still with me?

Through seven holes of his third round, Garcia is 10 under par and holds a three-shot edge over former World No. 1 Lee Westwood, with Shane Lowry and Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano one stroke further back. Garcia had begun his third round with a four-shot lead after a best-of-the-week seven-under-par 64 on Saturday. Play is schedule to re-start Monday at 9:10 a.m. local time (3:10 a.m. EST).

The decision to extend the event—which Garcia has already won twice, including last year—by 24 hours was straightforward, understandable and justifiable all in one. As the last regular season-event on the 2018 European Tour calendar before the three-strong Race to Dubai playoff series begins with the Turkish Airlines Open, the AV Masters represents the last chance for those players vying for all-exempt status in 2019. Officially, the top 110 on the Race to Dubai rankings attain such a position, but this year that number rises to 116 after the elimination of six ineligible players on what used to be the Order of Merit.

RELATED: Sergio Garcia’s highlight-reel goal in Euro Tour soccer match

So it is that the likes of Fernandez-Castano, a seven-time winner on the European Tour, will perhaps be under even more pressure than the leader over the closing holes. The 38-year-old arrived at the 1997 Ryder Cup venue in 125th spot on the Race to Dubai. The same can be said for Scotland’s Marc Warren and England’s Matthew Nixon. Both started the week outside the top 116, both are four under par, and both need a strong finish to move up enough to save their cards.

Quality Sport Images
Fernandez-Castano needs to close well at Valderrama on Monday in order to secure his European Tour card for 2019.

Others with even more tenuous holds on their playing credentials for next season include former U.S. Amateur champion Richie Ramsay and six-time tour winner David Horsey. Ramsay arrived in 124th place and is one-under par (T-20) with six holes to play. The 116th-placed Horsey is T-40 with only four holes left.

Already condemned to visiting the tour school is former BMW PGA Champion Matteo Manassero, who missed the halfway (or should that be two-thirds?) cut this week. The same fate also looks likely for another Italian, Edoardo Molinari. The elder brother of Open champion Francesco, and another former U.S. Amateur winner, is T-31 standing on the 16th tee, having begun the week in 137th place on the Race to Dubai.

RELATED: Watch Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano’s crazy up and down through a tree

 

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]]> https://mot-backup.golfdigestme.com/european-tours-regular-season-finale-extends-into-monday-in-spain-with-futures-of-several-veteran-players-unclear/feed/ 0 Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño just made the up-and-down of the year — through a tree https://mot-backup.golfdigestme.com/gonzalo-fernandez-castano-just-made-the-up-and-down-of-the-year-through-a-tree/ https://mot-backup.golfdigestme.com/gonzalo-fernandez-castano-just-made-the-up-and-down-of-the-year-through-a-tree/#respond Sun, 21 Oct 2018 04:54:32 +0000 https://golfdigestme.com/?p=21323 There are no easy pitches when you’re faced with 30 yards from the rough and only have about 15 feet of green to the hole.

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]]> By Alex Myers
There are no easy pitches when you’re faced with 30 yards from the rough and only have about 15 feet of green to the hole. But throw a tree in between you and the pin and the situation becomes virtually impossible to navigate. Unless there’s a gap between the branches. And you’re a tour pro.

 at least had both of those things working in his favour when he found himself in a tricky spot on the 18th hole during the first round of the Andalucia Valderrama Masters. And the seven-time European Tour winner pulled off a short-game shot that even Phil Mickelson would be proud of. Check out what might be the niftiest up-and-down of the year:

Great shot. And great commentary.

“Is he trying to go through the V of the tree? Surely, not, no. . . . Yes! Yes! Well, that is amazing. That is absolutely amazing.”

The incredible par save gave Gonzo an opening one-under 70 in the weather-delayed event. Ashley Chesters is the first-round leader following a 66.

Gonzo later added this on Twitter:

Good to know. Apparently, he has two middle names then.

 

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]]> https://mot-backup.golfdigestme.com/gonzalo-fernandez-castano-just-made-the-up-and-down-of-the-year-through-a-tree/feed/ 0 Euro Tour’s tournament committee chair David Howell embarrassingly misses tee time at French Open https://mot-backup.golfdigestme.com/euro-tours-tournament-committee-chair-david-howell-embarrassingly-misses-tee-time-at-french-open/ https://mot-backup.golfdigestme.com/euro-tours-tournament-committee-chair-david-howell-embarrassingly-misses-tee-time-at-french-open/#respond Sun, 01 Jul 2018 06:49:27 +0000 http://golfdigestme.com/?p=17688 England’s David Howell is the chairman of the European Tour’s tournament committee but that doesn’t mean he’s “above the law”.

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]]> Matthew Lewis/Getty Images

By Ryan Herrington
England’s David Howell is the chairman of the European Tour’s tournament committee, having replaced Thomas Bjorn earlier this year as he focused on his European Ryder Cup captain’s duties. But that doesn’t mean he’s “above the law,” if you will. Playing in the second round of the HNA Open de France, Howell mistakenly showed up late to his tee time at Le Golf National outside Paris.

“I thought I was off at 7:40, not 7:30,” Howell said. “It’s the first time I’ve ever missed a tee time.”

The other two members of his group, Marc Warren and Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano, teed off without him. Howell caught up, but was accessed a two-stroke penalty. He would wind up with a double-bogey 6 on the 10th hole (his first), the beginning of a long day that included making eight bogeys and a triple bogey en route to him signing for a 10-over 81 and miss the cut by seven strokes.

To make matters worse, Howell is staying at the Novotel Hotel adjacent to the Albatros course.

“I was staying only 300 yards from the first tee. It’s not as if I got stuck in traffic,” he said.

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