World golf mourns death this Sunday Argentinean Eduardo ‘El Gato‘ Romero at 67, a victim of lymphatic cancer. Romero, a sidekick to Severiano Ballesteros, José María Olazbal, Nick Faldo and Bernhard Langer, to name the great pillars of the European Tour, where he excelled the most outside of Argentina, added more than 80 victories in his career, most of them in tournaments. of his country, although he lifted eight titles on the European Tour and six on the Champions Tour -among them the US Open Senior in 2006-, when at the age of 50 he tried regularly in the United States.
Very close in dealing with all Latinos, joker and with a great gift of people, which he later used in politics to be mayor in his native Villa Allende (Crdoba) for the Republican Proposal, Romero stood out on the golf courses for his punch. That was his calling card in Europe when he appeared in 1985. He was already a veteran player (31 years old), with only wins in South America. He had been a latecomer to golf, tutored by his father, who had been a caddy and was a teacher at the local golf club. Romero applied himself in the mornings as a gardener and carpenter and, in the afternoon, it was the time that he dedicated to golf, first as a caddy, at the age of 12. When he turned professional, he already had a two-year-old daughter, Dolores.
The 1989 Lancome Trophy, in which he beat Langer and Olazbal by one stroke, was the definitive confirmation of his quality, although his most notorious victory was in 1991 when he won the Spanish Open, defeating Severiano Ballesteros at the Country Club in a playoff after seven holes. . He had reached the playoff after holed an eight-meter putt on the 18th hole.
The nickname of the Cat was given to him by a friend because of the way they approach tournaments. “I had a friend who said that I always did the same thing in tournaments: the first day I was behind; the second, I lurked; the third, I stood next to you and on the fourth I jumped on you,” he said. In a report on Clarn a few years ago he reflected the peculiar way he had of seeing life. “”If I were born again, I would be a golfer again. I was born to play it. I wouldn’t have done anything other than this. In fact, I think it would not have served for anything else. I don’t see myself in an office, nor doing journalistic notes. I was born for this, nothing more,” he pointed out.
Although he didn’t win a big one like Roberto di Vicenzo did and Ángel Cabrera, the latter’s career cannot be understood without the figure of El Gato. He was his mentor in Europe and his protector, until time parted ways for him in a very different way.
The anecdote of Japan
The journalist Gastn Siz tells in his obituary in La Nacin, the most delicious anecdote of his life. Romero had signed up to play a tournament on the Japanese circuit in Miyazaki, but he arrived late and contact with the field did not take place until the afternoon. At that time, an old man, a poor golfer, was practicing on the course and was delaying other games. Seeing him, the Japanese wanted to make way for him and Romero introduced himself, confided that he was a player who was going to participate in the tournament and offered him some advice that improved his game.
The next day, before the Proam, when he opened his locker, found an envelope with a check for $5,000. “I immediately called the locker room manager to say that the money was not for me, but they told me it was from Mr. Ideki Kotsinawa. Who was he? The president of the Bank of Tokyo.” In the card, the banker clarified that this figure corresponds to 0.01% of everything he had spent on teachers so that they corrected what the cordobs had adjusted in ten minutes.
The innumerable trips in the ext
