‘How ugly it gets’: Pro reveals cut and money cause in-round ‘shaking’

Pablo Larrazabal says he started to think about his wife and son. 

And money for them. 

And the cut. 

And how he hadn’t made one of those since early February. 

And right about there, everything crashed. 

Week in and week out, event after event, we see pros’ scores and we try to process the pros’ process to arrive at those numbers, and Friday, we got one of the better looks, albeit under unfortunate circumstances. Larrazabal’s thoughts came after his second round at the KLM Open, this week’s DP World Tour stop, and below, you can watch his entire interview, which was shared by the tour’s social media team. 

Larrazabal is a 22-year pro. The 43-year-old Spaniard has won nine times on the DP World Tour, and he’s been ranked as high as 50th in the world — and for a couple hours Friday, he believed he was playing as well as he ever has. “Top five of my career,” he said. After an even-par 71 during Thursday’s first round and a bogey to start Friday’s second round at the International golf course in Amsterdam, Larrazabal caught fire. He birdied 11, his second hole of the day after starting on the back nine. He birded 12. He birdied 15. On 2, from just off the left side of the green, Larrazabal pitched in for birdie, and he was three-under for his round and three-under for his tournament, all of which was a godsend. He’d been struggling. He had missed eight straight cuts. His best finish this season has been a tie for 33rd. On the par-5 3rd, he was 125 yards out after two shots. 

His third stroke found water. He double-bogeyed. 

After a par on 4, his 13th hole of the round, Larrazabal had 18 feet left for birdie on the 5th hole. He missed that.  

With 1 foot, 7 inches left for par, he missed again. 

Then he missed again, this time from 1 foot, 9 inches away. Larrazabal made his fourth putt on the hole, and his third from inside 2 feet. Another double bogey. 

But maybe he was still OK. He parred his 15th, 16th and 17th holes of the round, and on his final hole, Larrazabal was in the fairway after his tee shot. Then he hooked his second stroke. Bogey. He shot a two-over 73. He was two-over for the tournament.  

Afterward, he answered three questions. 

Question one: Seventy-three out there today. I can see you’re disappointed. Can I ask how you’re feeling? Why the disappointment today?

Larrazabal talked about his start. And what followed. And what he was thinking about. 

And how he started shaking. 

“Well, I played the first 11 holes, best game of, top five of my career,” Larrazabal said. “Three-under at that time. Just looking at the leaderboard and knowing that I could make one or two more, I was right in there. And then I mishit the third shot on the 3rd hole, on No. 3, put it in the water and made double bogey there. It’s not easy to don’t think about the cut. Last cut I made was in Qatar first week of February. I’m coming with eight missed cuts in a row. 

“And suddenly it doesn’t matter how many golf tournaments you played in your career — I think it’s over 480. I start shaking. This is how tough is this game and how ugly it gets sometimes. Those four putts on No. 5, they were all about shaking. I couldn’t make it in the hole from 2 feet, the first one 3 feet. Well, the second putt was shorter than 2 feet and not even touch the hole. And on the last hole, knowing that my ball was in the fairway, I thought that it was done, but my mind said don’t go to the right. I had 40, 50 feet on the left to put my 9-iron and I pulled it 30 left of the flag. … 

“That’s how tough is this game.”

Question two: Can I ask how important is it to you to fight, to still make cuts and make the weekend on the DP World Tour?  

Larrazabal talked about his family. He talked about money. He talked about the grind. 

“I have a family to support and I have a kid to take care of,” he said. “Out of 480 tournaments in my career, probably the first five tournaments of my career and the last five I’ve been thinking about money, and that’s not easy to play. 

“And it’s tough. This game is all about grinding. It doesn’t matter if you’re going to miss the cut by four or by six, it’s all about hanging in there and fight and that’s what I try to do today, but the nerves let me down on the last five holes.”

Question three: Pablo, not many players would have come and spoken after their round today. I just want to say thank you very much and I know you’ll be back stronger in Italy in a few weeks’ time. 

Here, Larrazabal looked at a leaderboard.  

Actually, he said, he might still make the cut. The second round was postponed until Saturday. According to the DP World Tour’s online leaderboard, Larrazabal was two strokes off the projected cut, but stranger things have happened. 

“I’m hoping that I can make the cut because it would mean a lot to me and I think my game is better than ever been,” he said. “Long game is — not even when I just to win golf tournaments, I hit the ball as good as right now. 

“It’s all about keep fighting and hope for tomorrow morning the wind blows a little bit and allows me to play the weekend.”