“I see my future with a lot of question marks.”
With Seve, he formed the most famous pair of Spanish golf and is the only compatriot who, besides Ballesteros, has so far worn the famous green jacket at Augusta, both on two occasions. Life has changed a lot since those longed-for times that encouraged tens of thousands of Spaniards to try a sport that until then had been a very minority sport, a very, very rare bug.
Now, at the age of 50 and after more than twelve months without being able to go out on the golf course due to the pain caused by his rheumatoid arthritis, he seems to be starting to see the light with a new therapy. However, based on past experience, he is cautious.
-How are you feeling with the new treatment you started a few months ago?
-We are doing everything, traditional treatment, biological therapy, all kinds of physiotherapy, etc., and it is true that I am a little better than I was last year, but, well, there is still a long way to go.
-Have you been able to play again since you tried at last year’s Spanish Open?
-No, not to play. I have started to play stick, to give a few small balls in the mornings, slowly, without forcing the machine, and so I go, trying to advance the steps a little.
-How do you see your professional future, completely focused on your facet as a designer?
-At the moment, with a lot of questions. The truth is that I don’t know what the near future holds. There is a possibility that it might go a little bit into design – we are doing a golf course in Qatar – and that is the clearest, most logical possibility.
-Spieth’s double wreck in the last round of the Masters, Larrazábal’s wreck on the 17th at Valderrama during the fourth round of the Spanish Open… Have you suffered any of these devastating situations?
-Yes, yes. These things happen and will continue to happen. In Jordan’s case, for example, it is true that he was not in his best shape. During the week he was quite erratic, although he held the lead for three days until the 12th hole of the last day, but he showed signs of some inconsistency, which he paid for on that hole. But, well, that happens to absolutely all of us, and especially to the one who is there.
-There is a stagnation and in some cases a decrease in the number of golfers in some of the great powers of the sport, and there is a debate on how to attract new players, especially the younger ones. Can you think of any formula to get new followers to golf, to make the rounds last less time, etc.?
That goes in cycles, and in any case what is true is that it used to take less time playing golf on the same 18-hole course. I think people take it a little bit too seriously. If you have an 18, 20 or whatever handicap, what you have to do is go out for a walk, have a little fun and that’s it. But I think we are reaching young people. It is true that with Tiger’s boom everything was easier, because everything was more attractive for a generation of kids who did not see golf as an attractive sport and with Tiger it was. It seems to me that with Jordan the same thing is going to happen a little bit, and in any case the way of teaching children is being renewed. Before it was a serious, hard, strict training, and now you have games and even music in the classes so that the children are entertained, they have a good time, and I think we are going in the right direction.
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