Winning for the first time at each higher rung of professional golf is hard. Just ask Manuel Elvira.
The 30-year-old Spaniard was bidding for his first win on the DP World Tour on Sunday. But Elvira, the younger brother of veteran tour winner Nacho, wasn’t trying to win just any event; he was the 54-hole leader of the BMW PGA Championship, the circuit’s flagship event. After playing brilliantly for 71 holes, the younger Elvira made a bunker blunder that cost him a chance of winning a title that he gift-wrapped for eventual champion J.J. Spaun.
Elvira, who entered the week at No. 294 in the world, bogeyed the first hole but reclaimed the lead with a birdie at No. 10, his third of the day. He tacked on another at No. 12 but gave the stroke back
with a bogey at the par-3 14th. Moments after Spaun stretched the lead to two strokes, Elvira canned a 9-foot eagle putt at the par-5 17th to tie for the lead at 17 under.
Manuel Elvira, currently one shot off the lead, sets up eagle on 17 with a stunning approach! #BMWPGA | #RolexSeries pic.twitter.com/PRG55uwKOU
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) September 20, 2026
With the par-5 18th still to play, he needed a birdie to win and a par to force a playoff. But Elvira made his first critical mistake when his second shot over water found a fairway bunker, leaving him a terrifying approach from 111 yards over water fronting the green. He hit a nervy bunker shot that airmailed the green and nearly hit a photographer, who was standing alongside Elvira’s brother in front of the grandstand.
“Devastating that I hit the wrong shot at the right time on the lay up and left myself the toughest shot in the fairway bunker, and wasn't able to pull it off,” Elvira said.
He received a free drop but pitched his fourth shot into a greenside bunker. Needing to hole out to force a playoff with Spaun, he splashed to 6 feet. Adding insult to injury, Elvira missed the bogey putt and slipped back into a four-way tie for second. But Elvira took comfort that while the finish will sting for a while, he still had recorded his best finish of his career at the DP World Tour's biggest event.
“I've played some of the best golf probably of my life. I was in contention and I wasn't really that nervous," he said. "Maybe coming off the 72nd hole but I managed to hit a good tee shot and unfortunately hit a bad second shot. It's been a great week and I'm really glad for it.”
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Manuel Elvira blows chance for first win after brutal bunker blunder
