Many people communicate about the Golf Gods and their cruel and unusual approaches to wreaking mental and physical havoc on unsuspecting lugs, simply seeking to get their ball within the hollow in as few photographs as possible. (That doesn’t encompass me, thoughts you, as I don’t dare immediately communicate approximately the sport’s mystical overseers, lest they punish me with a case of the yips or the shanks. I would rather talk with them in a roundabout way and strictly within the name of journalism.) It wasn’t the Golf Gods, but that always was given to Nacho Elvira on Sunday at the Maybank Championship. More like Mother Nature. Elvira, in search of his first professional European Tour win, had led heading into the very last spherical at Saujana Golf & Country Club in Kaula Lumpur but became now one stroke back of Scott Hend, the 45-year-antique Aussie competing with Elvira in the very last organization, as they have been gambling the 569-backyard par-5 previous hole.
Under ominous skies, the Spaniard became set to hit his 1/3 shot at the 18th, a brief pitch simply shy of the green. Yet simply in the center of his swing, a noisy clap of thunder rolled via, distracting Elvira and causing him to leave his ball a disappointing 30 ft from the hole. The European Tour first had a video of the unfortunate accident posted on Twitter (which we embedded while we published this tale this morning). However, the tour has in view that, disappointingly, taken it down. If you didn’t see it earlier this morning, it was remarkable how precisely Elvira is ready to hit the ball; you may pay attention to the increase.
After that thunder, tournament officers, as John Huggan wrote in his piece approximately the realization of the very last spherical, had no choice but to halt play and wait out the strength inside the place before letting them end up. Hend changed into facing a 20-foot birdie try himself that might have ended the affair in regulation. And wait, they did … for 1 hour and 40 minutes. The postponement may have rattled Elvira; however, impressively, the 32-12 months vintage didn’t allow it. When he returned, went to the route, and faced the vital putt, he stepped up and created a jolt of his personal.
The hand couldn’t top it, and the pair went to greater holes, the primary playoff of the 2018-’19 European Tour season. But Elvira could not keep the momentum going, hitting into a greenside bunker on the playoff hole, going back to the 18th, and making a bogey to Hend’s birdie. Elvira must watch for the maiden victory on a few different days. In the intervening time, we don’t blame him if he’s taking the Golf Gods Mother Nature’s name in vain.
