Sharing third place with another five players at the start of the day’s play, he said that he sensed he could win after playing the 15th, which he birdied.
‘I’ve been playing good golf all week,’ he said.
‘I’ve enjoyed every day’s play since I’ve been here.
When I played the ball into the last hole at the 18th, I knew I would win.’ By then he had shot a scintillating six under par 66 to claim his first Irvine Whitlock Seniors Masters title and was able to forget the disappointment of last weekend, when he lost a sudden death play-off to lose the Irish Seniors’ title to last year’s winner at La Moye, Sam Torrance.
He was also three shots clear of the field, with his rivals simply falling backwards with each passing shot.
Overnight leader, England’s Bob Cameron, for example, was four under par as he approached the 17th, playing two holes behind the Chilean and would have known by then that it was impossible to make up the deficit.
Meanwhile American John Benda, who was only one shot off the lead before the start of day, was in all kinds of trouble by the 16th hole, when he found the rough, took a dropped ball and immediately hit out – into the bunker.
Torrance was also unable to muster any kind of fightback although his round of 69 was one of the best scores of the day and, in defeat, he paid this tribute to the likeable Chilean player.
‘I’m delighted for Guillermo, he’s a lovely man,’ said the former Ryder Cup captain.
‘After what happened last week, it is a great achievement for him to bounce back this way.
He deserves all the credit he gets.’ Last week the Chilean needed only to par the last hole to win the title in Ireland but he conspired to hit his ball into the water before losing to Torrance in a sudden-death play-off.
However, this time there was no such mistakes as he recorded six birdies and an eagle on the 478 yard par-five 8th to finish three shots clear of New Zealand’s Simon Owen and Americans, Rex Caldwell and Alan Tapie, on a seven under par 209.
