Delpodio captured Masters13

After a very long day and a battle of nerves, Italian Matteo Delpodio won his third title of the season defeating England’s Jason Barnes by one stroke.

He scored 73 today one over par in very windy conditions. He had a margin of 2 shots at the beginning of the round. His challenger Barnes holed a birdy on the first hole as a kind of warning message saying he will be around all day. And he was.
Both players showed great golf but most of game, it was a battle of nerves. When Delpodio holed for birdy on the third as Barnes dropped one shot, the spectators though it was going to be an easy Italian story but Pont Royal golf course is a place when many dramas happened.

After nine holes and great birdies both sides, Delpodio had one stroke advantage thanks to birdy on 7th and 9th. Jason Barnes waited until the 13th hole to catch again the Italian and be square. Delpodio hit a 9 iron on par 3 and a gust of wind stopped his ball and it almost felt in the water hazard. Barnes hit a 7 iron and had less than 60 cm for birdy. Then he holed another one on 14th as Delpodio played par.

As the wind, the chance seemed to turn in favour in Englishmen.

When a leading player looses a tournament, there is often a guilty hole. Jason Barnes will regret the second shot on 15th for a while. He had 135 meters to the green with strong wind coming from right. He admitted he pulled it but the punishment was hard. The ball bounced left and went out of bounds. Barnes said that he didn’t even know there are out of bounds there… He dropped three shots of the hole and Delpodio seemed to take a little breath.

On last hole, as the end of the play was supposed to be written, Delpodio missed the green for 3 and landed in the bunker, his ball embedded. Barnes was on the rub of the green, chipped first and finished 2 meters from the flag. Delpodio can’t find the green after bunker shot. At this moment if Italian dropped one stroke and Englishman holed, they could have gone into a play off…

Delpodio missed his putt and gave Barnes a opportunity to win but it was not his day. Many “Forza Italia” came from Italian fans in the crowd and finally Matteo and caddy Andrea enjoyed the victory.

“Compared to my two other wins, it was the tougher. In Spain, I was so strong that nobody could beat me. But since a few weeks, I amp plying well but I tried to fix some points for Q school so I am not in the same confidence. It was such a long day. I did not feel the pressure that much. The conditions was so hard that you have no space for stress ! I knew my chance over the guys was the wind. I play very well in the wind but so did Jason. The key for this tournament was patience but most of all, I am sure I would not have win without Andrea my caddy. He helped me so much…”

Delpodio recovers his first place at the Alps Tour order of merit.

At Pont Royal
Agathe Séron