Alfred Dunhill Championship: How Pablo Larrazabal limped to 2019 win
Pablo Larrazabal recovered from a front-nine 41 and battling blisters to snatch a one-shot victory at the 2019 Alfred Dunhill Championship - watch his title defence at Leopard Creek live throughout the week on Sky Sports Golf.
By Ali Stafford
Last Updated: 24/11/20 3:22pm
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The Alfred Dunhill Championship makes a second appearance of the season on the European Tour schedule this week, a year on from one of the most dramatic finishes ever seen at Leopard Creek.
The contest is the second tournament of a three-week "South African Swing", co-sanctioned between the European Tour and Sunshine Tour, having also taken place to mark the start of a disrupted 2019-20 Race to Dubai schedule last November.
Pablo Larrazabal returns as defending champion following his remarkable win in 2019, where he produced a thrilling recovery to snatch victory in the opening event of what has since become a unique season.
Larrazabal took a three-shot lead into the final day in South Africa, where blisters on his feet left the Spaniard struggling to maintain his balance for each swing and giving him great difficultly in walking around the course.
After three bogeys in the first five holes, Larrazabal birdied the sixth but dropped four shots in a three-hole stretch from the seventh to, quite literally, limp to the turn in 41 and fall two strokes behind.
Larrazabal saw a birdie at the 11th cancelled out by a bogey at the 13th to leave him six over for the day and still two behind with five to play, only for him to recovery with three birdies over his final four holes to win by a single stroke.
Victory was his first on the European Tour since 2015 and saw him become the third Spanish winner in the tournament's history, following on from Alvaro Quiros and Pablo Martin, with Larrazabal later describing his final round as 'the toughest day of my golf career'.
Larrazabal is one of several former champions in the field for the 2020 contest, with Quiros, Richard Sterne and 2016 winner Brandon Stone also in action. Robert MacIntyre plays for the first time since his Cyprus Showdown victory, while Eddie Pepperell and Christiaan Bezuidenhout also feature.
The tournament is one of four events remaining on the Race to Dubai calendar, with the South African Open and Golf in Dubai Championship next week followed by the season-ending DP World Tour Championship from December 10-13.
Watch the Alfred Dunhill Championship this week live on Sky Sports. Live coverage begins on Thursday from 10am on Sky Sports Golf.
