A total of 277 titles have been accumulated among the 54 players participating in the Costa Blanca Benidorm Senior Masters which starts on Thursday. A spectacular figure that brings together one of the best squads you can have in a golf tournament. In this week’s accumulated field there are 130 victories in the European Tour, 79 in the European Senior Tour, 31 in the Challenge Tour, 10 in the Champions Tour, six in the PGA TOUR and 21 victories in other first level professional circuits.
Among all these triumphs and names, three major winners stand out, accumulating 6 victories in Grand Slam tournaments, highlighting the two Masters of Augusta (1994 and 1999) of José María Olazábal. At the gates of a major during his regular career were Miguel Angel Jimenez who finished second in the 2000 US Open behind Tiger Woods, the Italian Constantino Rocca, who fought in playoff for the 1995 British Open in an epic final against John Daly or the Frenchman Jean Van de Velde known for the final outcome in the 1999 Open which he lost on the last hole to Paul Lawrie after his famous visit to the water hazard at Carnoustie.
Miguel Angel Jimenez has achieved two victories in Majors tournaments this season in the Champions Tour, the Malaga native won the Regions Tradition and The Open Senior, the latter played at the Old Course of St. Andrews. Previously in 2012 Roger Chapman had made history by becoming the first European to win in 2012 the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship and the U.S. Senior Open in the same season, both considered Majors on the Senior Tour.
A total of four World Champions will also be competing this week. Spain’s Jose Rivero won in 1984. Rounding out the list are Peter Fowler (1989), Paul McGinley (1997) and Stephen Dodd (2005).
Those who come to the spectacular facilities of Meliá Villaitana Golf Club will be able to follow up to 16 players who have taken part in the Ryder Cup. Specifically José Rivero, José María Olazábal, Paul McGinley, Miguel A. Martín, Jean Van de Velde, Miguel A. Jiménez, Gordon,Brand Jr. Gordon Jr. Brand, Constantino Rocca, Phillip Walton, Eamon Darcy, Peter Baker, Steve Richardson, David Russel, David Gilford and Des Smyth, all participated 38 times in the Ryder Cup achieving 19 victories for the European team.
A constellation of stars difficult to match that will fight for the victory of the only tournament of the European Senior Tour (Staysure Tour) to be played in Spain, the first since the Benahavis Senior Masters held in 2012. A total of 11 Spanish players will take part in the event, the list headed by José María Olazábal and Miguel Ángel Jiménez is completed by José Rivero, Miguel A. Martin, Santi Luna, Víctor García, Ángel Duran, José Buendía, Pedro Linhart, Carlos Sunneson and Juan Quirós.
The Costa Blanca Benidorm Senior Masters tournament will take place thanks to the sponsorship of the Diputación de Alicante, Benidorm City Council and the collaboration of Turisme Comunitat Valenciana, Hosbec, Staysure Tour, Banco Santander, Hidraqua, Titleist, Wilson, BeniConnect, Real Federación Española de Golf, Kyocera, Asociación de Campos de Golf de la Costa Blanca y Comunidad Valenciana and Meliá Villaitana Golf. The tournament is promoted by the Golf Federation of the Valencian Community and organized by JGolf18.
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