Garcia Rodriguez is no surprise, wins Abruzzo Open Dailies Total 1

It was only a question of time for Spaniard Sebastian Garcia Rodriguez until he could raise a winning trophy again after that title he had conquered two years ago in the Alps de Las Castillas, in Spain defeating compatriot Adria Arnaus in playoff. Since the first tournaments of the 2019 season, Sebas showed the solid form that made him win Abruzzo Open Dailies Total 1 with two strokes margin and took him on top of the Order of Merit after six tournaments.

Garcia Rodriguez, 30, started the competition with a 65 (-6) and a tied second place after the first day on beautiful Miglianico Golf & CC, but was leading solo in the following round at -11, and was able to keep those 2-strokes margin also at the end of the third and final day with another 66 and a total -16, in spite of the « attacks » of other in-form players, like Italian Edoardo Lipparelli who eventually settled for a second place at -14.

« I’m very proud and happy I could finally win here in Italy », said Garcia Rodriguez, « I feel I’m on the right track that hopefully will lead me to the European Tour in the end, and in order to reach this goal I’m going to train and work as hard as ever. There’s no secret, I think that only hard work gets you where you wish to be, and that’s what I’ve been doing to finally win again ; but there’s always space for improving, you never have to be content ».

In Seba’s scorecards, only two bogeys in three rounds (none today) and 18 birdies (5 today) to get the winner’s cheque – 5,800 euros out of a 40,000 prize money : « I had been playing well for a while, but on the greens I had some troubles ; here in Miglianico, the greens were very good and I’ve putted really well, that was certainly the key ».

Lipparelli, 22, was feeling a bit exhausted after six weeks of tournaments in a row, where he actually performed quite well winning the French Qualifying School and adding a sixth place in the Italian National Championship to the very good scores he had in the Egyptian Winter series (a 2nd place in the Dreamland Pyramids Open and two more top tens) ; his rewards is the third place in the Order of Merit with 12.265 points – very close to the leader Garcia (12.569 pt) and fellow compatriot Lorenzo Scalise, second (12.437 pt) – and a pleasing sum of 10,930 euros after 6 tournaments.

In third place, Frenchman Julien Foret at -13 and fourth is Swiss Mathias Eggenberger at -11. A special mention goes to rookie Dutch Pierre Verlaar, who had an incredible aggregate of 28 strokes on the front nine with 8 birdies and a single bogey ; in the back nine his rythm slowed down – « On hole 12 I missed my birdie putt with a horse-shoe over the hole, and I’ve lost a bit of confidence there », he said – but nevertheless he finished with a 66 (-5) on 8th place with a total on -9.

The Alps Tour schedule will resume in three weeks in Spain, with Alps de las Castillas hosted by Golf Valdeluz in Guadalajara on May 9-11.

Final results: click here

Order of Merit : click here

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