Jose Maria Olazabal gives a green signal to Fernandez-Castaño for a berth at Ryder Cup this year
Gonzalo Fernandez-Castaño, one of the debutants at this year’s Masters, is hoping to break into the Ryder Cup team with a strong performance at the revered Augusta National this week.
The young Spaniard is playing alongside Jose Maria Olazabal, who is the Captain for the European Team for this year’s event and will be keeping a close eye on the country mate for a possible pick.
Dejected and disappointed with his performance last year, primarily due to a resurging back injury, Fernandez-Castaño had little hopes of making into Masters this year.
He confided his fears with his idol, Olazabal, who has gone over to bag the Masters title two times in his grizzled career and the veteran encouraged him to keep striving for the better.
Fernandez-Castaño’s luck soon took a turn for the better when he carded a strong runner up finish at Castelló Masters last year.
The Spaniard finally went over to break his winless streak by a victory at Barclays Singapore Open.
He said, "I spoke with Ollie about my chances of playing in the Masters last summer and getting into The Ryder Cup Team and I said I was not in the top 50 in the world so I would struggle".
He narrated, "He said to me, “don’t worry, you will come back, you will play in Masters one day, probably very soon”. Then I won in Singapore and everything changed".
"It’s been amazing. It’s unbelievable that I’m here today after last year being injured and watching it at home. It was so frustrating".
31-year-old Fernandez-Castaño turned professional in the year 2004, and made it through the European Tour Qualifying Rounds in 2005.
He landed the KLM Open in his rookie year and won the Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year award.
Fernandez-Castaño has five European Tour titles to his credit and will be playing in the Masters for the first time in his career.
His highest finish in a major event came in the year 2009 when he posted a joint 32nd in the PGA Championship.
If selected, Fernandez-Castaño will also be making his debut at the Ryder Cup at Medinah Country Club this year, playing under the Captaincy of Olazabal.
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