Pablo Larrazábal is hopeful he has turned a corner after a torrid soul-searching period of form that has seen him go back to basics.
“I played great golf. The first ten holes, I played like the old Pablo,” said the nine-time DP World Tour winner after a first-round five-under-par 66 at the DS Automobiles 83° Open d'Italia.
The Spaniard, who is into his 19th consecutive season on golf’s global tour, is on an unwanted run of nine missed cuts that started at the Magical Kenya Open presented by absa in February.
Among the most passionate and candid players on tour, Larrazábal admitted he “started shaking” as a four-putt during the second round at the KLM Open earlier this month proved damaging.
Despite his toil over recent weeks and months, the 43-year-old insisted that a turnaround in fortunes wasn’t far away and Italy’s national open could be the starting point.
“When you start birdie-birdie, things are getting a lot easier,” he said in a post-round interview after carding his best score since the first round at the Bapco Energies Bahrain Championship in February 2025 when he lost in a play-off.
“I played great, I played great golf.”
Even his solitary bogey of the day at the second, having started the day at the tenth, was one to be celebrated.
He added: "Bad tee shot on the second hole, well my 11th. It was kind of unplayable in the bunker and I made the bogey of the day, but very satisfying.
"My long game and everything was very good. After all these months, going to three [under], then four, then five, going back to four, going back to five...
"Coming in with the chances to put one or two more on the scorecard. I'm very, very, very proud of myself."
With this week his 482nd start on the DP World Tour, few in the game are more experienced but sometimes a reset is required - something Larrazábal is going through after reuniting with his old coach Roman Taya, a former Spanish amateur champion, two months ago.
"We split up 17 years ago, trying to look for something else," he reflected.
"Now, I split up with my psychologist and I'm trying to go back to basics and try to play free golf.
"Not trying to be a youngster like these kids that they're trying to smash every driver, but trying to play a little bit more freely.
"Obviously, things are not going my way the last few months, but I've been hitting the ball very, very good, probably better than when I used to win often."
The battle may be tough but the progress is there to be seen, Pablo.
