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Jun 25th, 2017
Cinderella Story: World number 837 wins BMW
How do things like this happen?...
Words: Tim Southwell Photography: Getty Images
Golf. It just doesn't make sense does it? I mean, when you're languishing at World number 837, you don't really expect to be in the mix come Sunday at the prestigious BMW International tournament in Munich. And you certainly don't expect to win it.
Or do you? That's the thing with tour pros. Even when they are really, really struggling, they're convinced that a good round is just around the corner. A round that can kick start your season, give you momentum, allow you to truly consign all the bad breaks, bad shots and missed cuts to the proverbial garbage can of golf.
Romero: From the wilderness to the winner's circle in one easy lesson...
Belief. it's all about belief. But if your golf swing, the golf gods, the slippery 8-foot down-hillers are all conspiring against you, that self belief can be the most elusive thing possible. Especially when you haven't won anywhere for 10 years.
“This is a moment that changes my life,” Romero said after carding a 4th round 65 (-7) .
He's not whistling Dixie, either. 36-year-old Romero, who had been as high in the world rankings as number 21, and who had won on both the European and PGA Tours earlier in his career, came into the BMW without having earned a card for either tour and on the back of missing four consecutive cuts.
Romero's career effectively hit the buffers soon after winning the 2007 Deutsche Bank Players Championship on the European Tour and the 2008 Zurich Classic of New Orleans on the PGA.
Unsurprisingly, Romero decided to commit to the U.S. PGA Tour after his Zurich win but, despite keeping his card and recording two runner up finishes between 2008 and 2015, he didn't win again. Worse still, he lost his PGA card after finishing 161st in the FedEx Cup and he hasn't had a decent look at getting his card back since.
He seemed to have hit rock bottom when he injured himself assaulting a tee sign that had too much to say for itself at the 2015 Barracuda Championship. Romero was forced to withdraw from the tournament, sit down somewhere dark and quiet and have a word with himself.
Two years later, after an heroic and dramatic victory in Germany, he now has a full card in Europe again.
Romero, who showed signs of a golf pulse after qualifying for this year's U.S. Open, has been known to produce incredible stretches of golf. Notably at the 2007 Open Championship when Romero made 10 birdies in the final round and took the lead to the 71st hole until imploding with two bogeys. I should know, I had an each way bet on him that would have netted me £1,700.00.
But I'm not bitter. Made up for the guy, to be honest.
Romero finished one shot clear of Richard Bland, 44, who shared the overnight lead with Spain's Sergio Garcia. Bland carded a three-under 69 on Sunday.
"If you don't win the BMW this year I'll bite your niblick!"
Masters champion Sergio Garcia and Belgium's Thomas Detry also finished on 16 under at the Golfclub Munchen Eichenried.
Romero's only other European Tour win was the Players Championship of Europe in 2007, the year he finished third at The Open.
Another example if Romero's hot streaking, he came into the BMW final round three strokes off the lead and promptly made seven birdies, including one at the 18th to win.
Bland, another player for whom 'self belief' is paramount, has never won on the European Tour but he performed well on the last day here, carding five birdies, but dropped a shot on the par-five sixth and another on the 17th.
He was playing in the final group of the day alongside Garcia, who was competing in Europe for the first time since he won the Masters in April. Both needed to eagle the last hole to force a play-off, but Garcia narrowly failed to chip in with his third shot before Bland's 15-foot putt slid wide.
All of which left Romero – who had long since finished and was enduring a nail-biting wait in the clubhouse – with a decisive one shot victory, validation for all the torment he put himself through as he refused to give up, a cheque for £300,000.00 and, most importantly, a European Tour card.
