Manuel Piñero and Marta Figueras-Dotti have been appointed captains of the golf teams that will represent Spain at the next Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro 2016. The two will captain the men’s and women’s teams, respectively, in a sport specialty that was already Olympic in the Paris 1900 and Saint Louis 1904 Games.
Unanimously considered as two of the icons of the history of Spanish golf, Manuel Piñero and Marta Figueras-Dotti will captain the men’s and women’s teams, respectively, in a sport specialty that was already Olympic in the Paris 1900 and Saint Louis 1904 Games but was excluded in London 1908 due to a boycott, remaining outside the Olympic movement for more than a century.
Manuel Piñero, born in Puebla de la Calzada (Badajoz), 63 years old, is one of the golfers who contributed most to the success of Spanish golf during the 70s and 80s, when he accumulated victories of enormous importance.
Professional since 1968, it was in the early 70’s when he started playing on the European Tour, where he won nine victories, including the PGA Championship in 1977. For five seasons he was ranked in the top ten of the Order of Merit, finishing fourth in 1976 and 1977.
Manuel Piñero participated in two editions of the Ryder Cup with the European team: in 1981 he beat the American golfer Jerry Pate and in 1985 he contributed four points for Europe to win the title. In addition, he played nine World Cups, with special mention for the 1976 and 1982 editions, years in which the Spanish team was champion. In addition, in 1982, he was the best in the individual classification.
For her part, Marta Figueras-Dotti – born in Madrid in 1957 – accumulated numerous amateur triumphs, with special mention for the 1979 Spanish Absolute and Junior Championships and the gold medals in the 1975 and 1977 European Junior Team Championships before settling for more than 20 years in the United States.
In all that time she forged an outstanding golf career, with special mention for her victory, while still an amateur, in the Women’s British Open in 1982 before turning professional and becoming the first Spanish player to win on the LPGA Tour, specifically in the Hawaii Open and the JC Penney Classic in 1994.
Focused on teaching and on the women’s national golf teams – with a contribution, as coach, to the triumph in the 2013 European Women’s Team Championship – Marta Figueras-Dotti has contributed in recent years her extensive technical knowledge and outstanding personality to players of the renowned quality of Azahara Muñoz, Belén Mozo, Carlota Ciganda, Tania Elósegui, María Hernández, Marta Prieto, Elisa Serramiá and a long etcetera.
Manuel Piñero: “This captaincy represents all Spanish golf professionals”.
Manuel Piñero recognizes that the captaincy of the Spanish Olympic team “is a great honor. Representing Spain is always a source of pride, but even more so in the Olympic Games, a historic event for the sport of golf. At the same time, being the captain is an important responsibility, although it will be the players who bear it more, as happens in a Ryder Cup.
“My mission,” continues Manuel Piñero, “will be to take the pressure off them, to be attentive to all the needs that arise so that they can concentrate solely on playing and doing their best.
The absence of references, since golf is returning to the Olympic Games after more than a century, “is not a crucial problem, although it would be good to have them. In any case, the performance will depend a lot on how the players arrive at that moment, who must plan their season as if it were just another tournament in their calendar. There are also no references of the playing field, which is new, so it would be good to go there beforehand to analyze it”.
Manuel Piñero accepts the assignment with great satisfaction, although he wants to make it clear that “this captaincy should have been held by Severiano Ballesteros, a person with whom I had a very special relationship and who unfortunately left us in 2011, and if not José María Olazábal, who has had to decline it for physical reasons. In any case, I am representing all Spanish professionals, especially a generation of players who should be given the value they deserve for their great contribution to our sport”.
Marta Figueras-Dotti: “The goal is for the players to feel supported at all times”.
Marta Figueras-Dotti, for her part, is equally honored by the designation as Olympic captain: “The excitement is tremendous because the Olympic Games are the biggest sporting event in the world and it is very important that golf takes the opportunity to make itself known to society as a whole. Our players have an enormous quality and, of course, there may be medal options”.
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