If there is someone to whom Andalusian golf should be especially grateful for the priceless work of international promotion that has made it, it is undoubtedly Jaime Ortiz-Patiño.The demiurge of Valderrama was the architect of the fact that the first Ryder Cup in history to be played on continental European soil was held in Andalusia.
It was he who also attracted for the first and so far only time to our country the American Express World Championships, who contributed to the creation and greatness of a spectacular tournament like the Volvo Masters …. Don Jaime is an incomparable figure who has helped like no one else to raise Andalusia’s golf to the highest level.
Now, at 82 years of age (Paris, June 20, 1930), he does not have the vitality of yesteryear, the one that made him get up before dawn to inspect the correct state of the greens and the rest of the course during the Volvo Masters, but he keeps a clear head and the illusion intact in a golf project that began to take shape a few years ago: the Castellar course, a short distance from Valderrama.
Son of Bolivians, great-grandson of Spaniards and grandson of Simón Patiño, who was known as the king of tin in Bolivia and ambassador of that country in the capital of France, the honorary president of Valderrama currently spends most of his life in Geneva and makes sporadic trips to his home in Sotogrande.
In this interview, conducted in one of his properties, in the Los Patios de Valderrama complex, he recalls the great experiences that his famous golf course has given him.
In mid-1987 we came to see you to tell you about our project to make a golf magazine and take it to the United States for that year’s Ryder Cup. You immediately told us that you were going to help us, and since then you have not stopped doing so while you were president of Valderrama. You had bought Las Aves not long before. What memories do you have of that time?
-In 1982 I decided to retire and sold my interests in the family mining companies, of which I was president. I have always loved nature and open spaces and have always thought that golf is not only a sport, but an activity that contributes to keeping urban areas green and has a positive influence on society.
At that time, when I had time, my dedication to this sport grew so much that I felt I could help in an ecological way and just then the possibility arose to buy the second course in Sotogrande, called Sotogrande Nuevo or Las Aves.
-You always wanted to make Valderrama a great golf course, to turn it into the number one in Europe. What did you see that had to be done to reach that ambitious goal?
-I thought that if I was able to turn Valderrama into one of the best golf courses in Andalusia, Spain and even continental Europe, then I was willing to buy it, as long as I could find friends willing to partner with me for at least 50 percent.
I consulted a friend, the great golf architect Robert Trent Jones, who in his lifetime had built more than 400 courses, of which the first in Europe was Sotogrande, the second Las Brisas and the third Valderrama.
These three fields were designed exclusively by him, without the influence of any of his technicians, since he did not have an office in Spain at that time.
-In your work to transform the countryside, you always had the direct help of Robert Trent Jones. Did you become close friends, did you understand each other about what needed to be done at Valderrama?
-I told him I was thinking of buying Valderrama and whether it would be possible to make the course a spectacular course. He told me that it was the best course of all the courses he had designed since the end of the War (World War II), but that Financiera Sotogrande had given him a very limited budget to build the course and not enough land.
I told him that I would give him an unlimited budget and that I would buy as much land as he needed to build the field according to his idea.
We agreed that he and only he would come every two months to Valderrama, for two weeks and that only he and I would work. Trent Jones was already in his 80’s and his young assistants always wanted to influence him. I was of the opinion that he didn’t need any influence or assistance: he knew better than anyone what to do. We always got along very well!
-Almost from the beginning, you thought about bringing a major tournament to Valderrama. Was the Ryder Cup the first thing that came to your mind? When and how did you start fighting for it?
-The remodeling work took us three years and the course was looking so good that we both agreed that, once completed, Valderrama should host a major tournament.
Luckily, my friend and later general manager of Valderrama, Derek Brown, knew Mel Pyatt very well.
To my surprise, Mel Pyatt came to visit me. He had just been appointed director of Volvo Event Management, a company created to organize and promote golf tournaments, together with his partner Ford. Mel asked me if I would be willing to host the first five editions of the Volvo Masters, a tournament that was to be held for the first time in 1988.
I was not prepared for this offer, the course was not finished, but I could not refuse. The Volvo Masters was to be the final tournament of the European Tour, the third most important event after the Open and the PGA Championship.
I convinced them that the course will be finished on time and the Volvo board confirmed that they would come to Valderrama.
-In any case, the first great tournament held at Valderrama was the Volvo Masters, of which almost all of its editions were held here. What are the most intense memories you have of that tournament?
-In 1989, Spain applied to host the 1993 Ryder Cup. To the chagrin of all Spanish golfers, Spain’s application was rejected.
I have to say, that the Spanish Golf Federation, who wanted the Ryder Cup to be held in Madrid, let me know that they preferred that I did not bid to host this 1993 event. I told them that I had no intention of bidding anyway. Although I was interested in the 1993 edition, the course was not yet consolidated, the highway was not finished and the infrastructure in general was not good, there was not enough accommodation, there was no agreement with the port of Algeciras to dock passenger ships for more than 24 hours, in short, we were not ready to host a Ryder Cup in 1993.
-In 1997 you finally won the Ryder Cup. This was a milestone because it was the first time that the tournament was played on European continental soil, outside the British Isles. What were your feelings when you received the confirmation that Valderrama would be the venue, how did you feel on the opening day, did the King and Queen of Spain make any comments to you?
-In 1991 the Ryder was held at Kiawah Island, a newly completed Pete Dye course with a half-finished clubhouse, a single 250-seat hotel, parking lots in the middle of nowhere twenty minutes from the course and the nearest city, Charleston, an hour and a half away.
Still, despite all these difficulties, the American PGA decided to hold the Ryder Cup there.
I remember very well, at the end of the tournament, when Europe had lost by half a point, in Johnny Walker’s hospitality area I said to my friend and Valderrama partner Lord MacLaurin of Knebworth: “If a Ryder Cup can be held here, we can also do it at Valderrama and better than here.”
He told me he would support me and he always did, and I decided to work towards my goal: the 1997 Ryder Cup.
I asked James Stewart to do a complete study of everything Kiawah Island offered the PGA to convince them to host the tournament in 1991.
Such a report was indispensable in order to convince everyone involved in this adventure that we could do a good job and even better.
I remember that on Easter Sunday 1992 I sent a note to the RFEG advising them that the next day I was going to send to the Ryder Cup Committee in London my official bid to host the tournament in 1997.
I knew that this Committee had promised the RFEG, after the 1993 incident, that the 1997 Ryder Cup would be held in Spain. Twenty-four months after I made my official offer, in May 1993, it was finally announced that the 1997 edition would definitely be held in Spain. Immediately afterwards, five or six Spanish courses sent in their bids.
-It’s a Ryder Cup that is still in the memory of many golf fans around the world. Why do you think it was so special?
-Finally, during the 1994 PGA Championship it was announced that the Ryder Cup would be held at Valderrama in September 1997. I was in Costa Rica at the time with some friends and although the news reached us at 5 a.m. we were celebrating in style.
In all modesty, no Ryder Cup had ever been attended by a member of the British Royal Family and we, here in Spain, were able to count on the presence of Their Majesties the King and Queen and their daughter Infanta Elena, Prince Andrew of England, Prince Bernard of Holland, President George Bush, as well as many other representatives of the Spanish Government and many other personalities.
It was also the first time that the Ryder Cup was played outside the British Isles, in continental Europe. Even today, 15 years later, the Ryder Cup has not returned to continental Europe and is only scheduled to do so in 2018, that is, 21 years after it was played at Valderrama.
In addition, it was very special because we had the honor of having Seve Ballesteros as captain of the European team.
-After the Ryder Cup, Valderrama hosted two editions of the American Express World Championships. They were another great moment for this course. What would you highlight from those events?
-After the Ryder Cup, Tim Finchem (the head of the American Tour, the PGA Tour) invited us, on behalf of the different world tours, to celebrate the 1999 and 2000 editions of the American Express World Championship.
Obviously I accepted without hesitation. Having hosted nine Volvo Masters, one Ryder Cup and two World Championships, Valderrama would become a worldwide icon.
Volvo, which held at Montecastillo the editions of the Masters that we could not host, was eager to return to Valderrama and we welcomed them back in 2002 and they stayed until 2008.
It is interesting to note that after the first five editions of the Volvo Masters there was never a signed contract between Volvo Event Management and Valderrama. A handshake between Mel Pyatt and myself was all it took to organize the European Tour’s season-closing event for fifteen years.
-You were so passionate about golf, but before that you would have played other sports such as tennis. Why did golf captivate you so much that you have dedicated the last 30 years of your life to it?
-The sport I played before golf was tennis. I was much better at it than golf and played it at a competitive level until I suffered a shoulder injury at the age of 27, so I couldn’t continue competing.
-Has golf changed a lot in the last three decades?
-Obviously, the sport of golf, like all sports, has changed in the last twenty years, but it is very interesting to note that Valderrama, with its extension of only 7,000 yards, is still considered by professionals one of the most complicated courses on the Tour, and that without having made significant modifications to the course.
-For the last 25 years Andalucía Golf has been closely linked to its activities and working for all the major tournaments that have been held at Valderrama. Could you tell us what this magazine has meant to you?
-Andalucía Golf has obviously been a faithful partner in all these years not only for Valderrama but for all of us who are linked to the world of golf. You have always reported in a very objective way and it is largely thanks to you that the success of the tournaments held in Andalucía and the excellent quality of golf that exists in this community has become known among golf fans around the world.
When I arrived here in 1970 there were only four golf courses and today, forty years later, there are fifty.
Personally, and I think I can also do it on behalf of the Andalusian golfers, I congratulate you and thank you for all the work you have done over the years and I hope that, despite the difficult times we are all going through, you will continue doing your wonderful work.
ADMIRATION AND GRATITUDE
“To conclude,” says Don Jaime, “I would like to record my admiration and gratitude to Ángel de la Riva, President of the Royal Andalusian Golf Federation, who has been our President for the last 16 years.”
“I don’t know,” he continues, “any other person who has done more to promote the sport of golf in Andalusia. He has dedicated all his time to promoting golf in the 8 Andalusian provinces. It is largely thanks to his dedication that today there are so many golf courses on the Costa del Sol and more than 100 in Andalusia. When I arrived on the Costa del Sol in 1967, there were only 4 courses”.
“Obviously,” he continues, “the expansion of golf could not have taken place without the help of the Junta de Andalucía. However, Ángel de la Riva first had to convince the Junta that golf was not an elitist sport but an indispensable offer to attract the golf tourist, who spent four times more than the beach tourist”.
“The Federation holds elections every four years and I sincerely hope,” he says, “that Ángel de la Riva will continue to be our president not only for the four years of the next term but for many years to come.”
“I take this opportunity to thank Angel and his team for all they have done to promote golf over the past 25 years,” concludes Don Jaime.
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