At least he tried. Miguel Angel Jimenez, promoter of the Open de Andalucia Costa del Sol, which starts tomorrow at Aloha Golf in Marbella, is still determined to bring Tiger to his land and as nothing is lost by trying, this year he has invited him again. “I told him, Tiger, come to the Open de Andalucía, because things are really tight and you can arrange the tournament for me. I can’t give you money, but I can give you a good hotel, fried fish, you’ll have a great time… He laughed. I am doing this tournament because I am convinced that this area needs one on a stable basis, since golf is the main industry we have. We must continue to promote it, we must continue to invest so that quality tourists come, to see when people become aware that this is a sport that generates wealth. In any case, the Open de Andalucía Costa del Sol brings together this week an excellent group of players who, five months before the Ryder Cup, are looking for a place in the team that will be captained by José María Olazábal at the Medinah Country Club next September. Three winners this season, Rafael Cabrera-Bello, Robert Rock and Jbe Kruger, three major winners, Mike Weir, Michael Campbell and Rich Been, together with Miguel Ángel Jiménez, Pablo Larrazábal, Matteo Manassero, Edoardo Molinari or Colin Montgomerie, lead a luxury participation in the first tournament of the season to be played on European soil.
The Canarian Rafael Cabrera-Bello has made a sensational start this season with the victory in the Dubai Dessert Classic last February, the second in his list of winners after the 2009 Austrian Open. He is ninth in the Race to Dubai and is among the top 60 players in the world.
“Dubai was a very sweet moment of play and although the last few tournaments in the United States have not gone so well in results, I have no reason to think that this week I will not play the same as in Dubai, I have a lot of confidence.
The victory has completely changed the calendar, I will play the four WGC tournaments, plus two Majors, the British Open and the PGA Championship. I also have another one in my sights, the US Open and if I do very well this week, I could enter the Masters for the first time. Now I have the chance to play the big tournaments of the year and measure myself against the best players.
My game improved a lot last season, I gained a lot of consistency, I made several top 20 and top 30, and I just needed a small jump that I could finally give in Dubai. During the winter I have strengthened a lot my self-esteem and confidence in my game and that has paid off.
I already knew Aloha from the previous Open de Andalucía and it is a course where you have to place the ball very well, it has many slopes, and the greens are very fast.
Also coming into Aloha in form is England’s Robert Rock, winner of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship this season, his second victory after last year’s BMW Open d’Italia. Rock has also scored a ninth place in the Joburg Open, a twelfth place in the Volvo Open Championship and a seventeenth place in the WGC Accenture Match Play. Another recent winner of the Tour who is in the Aloha course in Malaga is the South African Jbe Kruger, winner three weeks ago of the Avantha Open in India, in which Jorge Campillo was second.
Alongside them, Edoardo Molinari, who is looking to repeat this year the feat of 2010, when he won two tournaments, the Scottish Open and the Jonnie Walker Championship and made his debut in the Ryder Cup, should not be overlooked. His compatriot, Matteo Manassero, fights for his third title after the 2010 Castelló Masters and the 2011 Malasyan Open: “I like this course and I love coming to play in Spain where I got my first victory, you never forget that. Aloha is a course where you can’t hit much drive, you have to place the ball in the fairway and the greens are complicated. It’s not going to be easy to putt, this week will see a lot of birdies but also a lot of double bogeys”.
Canadian Mike Weir is another of the great attractions of the Andalusia Open. Winner of the Augusta Masters in 2003 and the WGC American Express at Valderrama in 2000, he is recovering from an elbow injury to return to the elite of world golf. The American Rich Been, winner of the PGA Championship in 2002 and Michael Campbell, winner of the US Open, or the Scotsman Colin Montgomerie complete the list of the main foreign players who have taken part in the Open de Andalucía Costa del Sol.
The Andalusian Open has suffered the last minute withdrawals of Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño, José María Olazábal due to discomfort in his right foot and Paul Lawrie due to a lung infection.
Spaniards in Aloha
After the withdrawals of Jose Maria Olazabal and Gonzalo Fernandez-Castaño, there are a total of 24 Spaniards in Aloha where today they have taken a family photo and have bet on a Spanish champion for Sunday. Playing this week will be: Miguel Ángel Jiménez, Rafa Cabrera-Bello, Pablo Larrazábal, Pablo Martín, Alejandro Cañizares, José Manuel Lara, Nacho Garrido, Carlos del Moral, Jorge Campillo, Jordi García del Moral, Agustín Domingo, Adrián Otaegui, Álvaro Velasco, Manuel Quirós, Alfredo García Heredia, Eduardo de la Riva, Carlos Rodiles, Pedro Oriol, Javier Colomo, Santi Luna, Carlos Suneson, Borja Etchart, Antonio Hortal and Ignacio Elvira.
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