“To win at Valderrama you have to be very patient and love this course,” said Sergio García, host of the Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters – Sergio García Foundation, after winning the 2017 edition of the tournament. It is a concise and accurate summary of the relationship that the Spanish player maintains with Real Club Valderrama, which this year also celebrates its silver jubilee with the European Tour, as it will host from June 26 to 30 its twenty-fifth event of the continental circuit.
There are holes remembered for the exploits of certain golfers, such as Hogan’s Alley, named in honor of the great Ben Hogan at Carnoustie, and even certain sections of some courses that go down in history for the dominance exhibited by prominent players. A little above this step are those courses fully identified with golf stars, such as Bay Hill, always associated with Arnold Palmer (although Tiger Woods’ eight victories there place him at his side) or Muirfield Village, the home of Jack Nicklaus. It is not at all adventurous to include Sergio Garcia and the Real Club Valderrama in this list of “golf marriages”.
The saying imported to golf from equestrianism goes that there are horses for courses, that is, players who perform better on certain courses, but in the cases we have mentioned, the link between golfers and courses goes beyond the merely sporting. The favorite courses are much more than a talisman: they are an endorsement in the good times, but also a refuge and balm in the not so good times.
Although Sergio Garcia was slow to get his first victory at the Real Club Valderrama, his statistics in the beautiful and well-kept course of Sotogrande are spectacular, especially if we take into account the difficulty of the Robert Trent Jones design. The Borriol already has 13 top tens (two in the American Express Championship, seven in the Volvo Masters, and four in the Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters) in the 14 European Tour tournaments he has played at Valderrama, besides being the first golfer to achieve three victories in individual events on this course (in 2011, 2017 and 2018).
“I really like this course and everyone knows it’s my favorite…. People will think that I come to Valderrama and I already win, but it is very demanding for me. It demands you in all facets, it’s not like many of the courses we play, where the main thing is the drive. This course makes you play all the clubs in the bag,” recapped García at the end of the 2018 edition of the Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters.
It is true that he has two consecutive titles at Valderrama (which could be three if we did not count the third place he achieved at the 2016 Open de España), but the star from Borriol was slow to “open the can”, after coming close to victory on countless occasions at the Volvo Masters.
After coming close to the title won by Graeme McDowell in the 2010 edition of the then Andalucía Valderrama Masters, García began to impose his bloodless tyranny on the Cadiz course. The following year, Garcia fought an exciting duel with Miguel Angel Jimenez and achieved a remarkable recovery in the final commitment to raise, finally, a trophy at Valderrama. The spectacular celebration on the final green, with Sergio Garcia leaning forward and clenching his fists, seemed a prelude to what he later experienced at the 2017 Masters. Despite the tension released at that moment, one of the keys to the triumph was acceptance.
“I didn’t feel at all that this course owed me anything. I have always tried to play here as best as I could and knew how; but I have always been beaten by those who were playing better,” Garcia said in that tournament. Afterwards, he has not had to remember those words much again.
Later came third place in the 2016 Open de España, just two strokes behind Andrew “Beef” Johnston after going out on the last day seven strokes behind the leader, and the two titles achieved in 2017 and 2018 at the Andalucía Valderrama Masters, keeping qualified rivals like Joost Luiten and Shane Lowry at bay. Last year, Garcia stunned with an impressive second partial of 64 strokes in an edition shortened to 54 holes due to inclement weather. The ties between Sergio Garcia and the Real Club Valderrama could not be closer.
“I like all the holes at Valderrama, each one has its attraction. It’s a course that demands a lot from you and doesn’t allow you a break, it makes you think and keep your concentration from the moment you stand on the tee of one. You have to put the ball in the right place and it requires patience. I think we all play it with a lot of respect,” explained the Spaniard.
As of June 27, Sergio Garcia will have the opportunity to prolong his idyll with the course of which he is a member, although to do so he will have to beat rivals of the stature of Jon Rahm, the best Spaniard in the world ranking for the last 21 months.
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Tickets on sale
Tickets for the Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters 2019 – Sergio García Foundation are now on sale on the tournament website. Access is free for accompanied children under 12 years old, and there are tickets from 7 € for children under 17 years old and 18 € for adults. More information on the tournament website and on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
The Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters – Sergio García Foundation, a European Tour tournament valid for the Race to Dubai that is held thanks to the essential collaboration of the Real Club Valderrama, is sponsored by Estrella Damm and the Ministry of Tourism, Regeneration, Justice and Local Administration of the Andalusian Government, in addition to being co-financed with European funds and declared an event of exceptional public interest by the Government of Spain. The tournament is also supported by the Diputación de Cádiz, Dubai Duty Free, Santander Private Banking, Shell, Exterior Plus, La Reserva de Sotogrande, Rolex and the Royal Andalusian Golf Federation. Callaway, Enterprise, Maui Jim, Marca, Volvo and ISDIN are official suppliers. Also collaborating are Coca-Cola, Hospital QuirónSalud Campo de Gibraltar, Varma, Gadira, Grupo Raga and Korporate Technologies Group.
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