Twelve years after playing the Sotogrande Cup as part of a luxury Spanish team that faced the top of European amateur golf (many of whose members already have notable professional successes), Adrián Otaegui returns to Real Club de Golf Sotogrande with a unique distinction: the defending champion of the Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters title.
The Donostiarra, in a more than remarkable season, arrives at the Cadiz course at the head of the Spanish squad and looking forward to reediting a very special title from October 19 to 22.
“Every victory has its history and its moment, but it is true that last year’s victory at the Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters had a special flavor: my first victory in Spain, in front of the Spanish public, in one of the places I love the most. It was the first victory with my parents on the course, sharing the whole week with them, with many people from San Sebastian. It was a very nice victory in a week in which everything went well. Unforgettable”, Otaegui recalls.Although he has not played the Real Club de Golf Sotogrande for some time, Otaegui retains a great memory of the course where he won the bronze medal for teams in the Sotogrande Cup in 2011.
The Sotogrande area is very special for the Basque, and a new triumph would endorse the great relationship he has with this corner of the Andalusian geography.
“I remember perfectly the Sotogrande Cup we played in 2011. I remember the fame and prestige of that tournament, and all the players in Europe wanted to play it. It is a course that I love, it is always very well maintained, demanding, with fast greens and with wind it can be very complicated. I’m sure there are good rounds if you have your game ready, but you can make a mess of things. It’s a course that can suit me, although there are holes I don’t know after the changes. I can’t wait to play the practice round. I have magnificent memories of the Sotogrande area, of going as a teenager with 14 or 15 years when I could, in winter, to train with wind and with a different grass to the one we have in the north. It is an area I am very fond of”, explains the Basque player.
History permeates Adrián Otaegui’s career and not only because of his time at the Sotogrande Cup: winner of the British Boys like another star from San Sebastian, José María Olazábal, he also made his debut in a DP World Tour tournament, the Iberdrola Open in 2011, on a very special date.”It was just the week after Severiano Ballesteros passed away and it was different and emotional. That same year after playing the European Championship with the RFEG team I turned professional, quite young. The idea was to gain experience to learn the trade. It was right on my part, because I have always been clear that I wanted to dedicate myself to this and I feel privileged to be able to dedicate myself to what I like, to my passion, to what I have always wanted”, says Otaegui.
Throughout his twelve-year professional career, Adrián Otaegui has been able to mature and make the most of all his efforts, overcoming the initial difficulties and taking advantage of the road to learn how to win and, above all, how to live. With four DP World Tour titles already under his belt, the future is still brimming with possibilities.
“The elite professional world is different from what you imagine as a kid. I’ve been lucky enough to play a lot of tournaments all over the world, in different courses, with different cultures, on different continents and circuits. I have played all the majors except the Masters, which is the only one I have left, and the experience has been magnificent. In terms of sports, I love the competition and the challenges you face every day on a golf course. It is a matter of overcoming, of solving problems that come to you little by little, as in life”, describes the Spanish golfer.
For the moment, he has to defend the first title he won on Spanish soil, and to do so he will lead a notable group of Spanish players that also includes, among others, Pablo Larrazábal, winner of the Korea Championship and the KLM Open this year, Jorge Campillo, champion of the Magical Kenya Open presented by Absa, Nacho Elvira, Adri Arnaus or Rafa Cabrera Bello.All of them make up a qualified local cast that will face the international stars at the Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters, such as the Americans Wyndham Clark and Matt Kuchar, the New Zealander Ryan Fox, the Italian Francesco Molinari, the Scotsman Robert McIntyre, the Polish Adrian Meronk or the Frenchman Victor Perez.
To enjoy all these players at the Real Club de Golf Sotogrande, just purchase tickets for the Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucia Masters, with discount for members and free access for children under thirteen, on the tournament website.
The Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters, a DP World Tour tournament valid for the Race to Dubai that is held thanks to the essential collaboration of the Real Club de Golf Sotogrande, is sponsored by Estrella Damm and the Consejería de Turismo, Cultura y Deporte de la Junta de Andalucía, in addition to being co-financed with European funds and having been declared an event of exceptional public interest by the Government of Spain.
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