Five years later, the Real Club Valderrama is once again the venue for a major international professional tournament, and it does so precisely with the player who won that event (Andalucía Valderrama Masters) as host: Sergio García. The centenary Spanish Open, the third oldest tournament on the European Tour, only surpassed in years by the British Open (1860) and the French Open (1906), will thrill thousands of fans from April 14 to 17, who will enjoy an extraordinary golfing spectacle on site.
This will be the first time that the legendary course will host the Open de España, whose first edition was played in 1912 at the Polo G.C. de Madrid. Since 1972, the Open de España has been one of the essential events on the European Tour calendar, with illustrious names in the history of the sport appearing on its list of winners.
Major winners such as Seve Ballesteros, Sir Nick Faldo, Padraig Harrington, Bernhard Langer, Arnold Palmer and Charl Schwartzel; European number ones such as Robert Karlsson and Colin Montgomerie; and four Spaniards, in addition to Severiano Ballesteros, have lifted the trophy since 1972: Antonio Garrido (1972), Álvaro Quirós (2010), Miguel Ángel Jiménez (2014) and Sergio García himself in 2002.
The tournament, endowed with two million euros in prize money, will be the first event of 2016 to be held on European soil, with the support of the Royal Spanish Golf Federation and the Real Club Valderrama, in addition to the support of Sergio Garcia, who will act as host. The Spaniard has eleven European Tour titles on his record, fourteen other international victories and has been a member of the winning team of the Ryder Cup in five editions.
Sergio Garcia’s involvement in the tournament, through the Foundation that bears his name, which he founded in 2002, further highlights his commitment to the European Tour this season.
Sergio Garcia thus joins Ernie Els, host of the BMW SA Open in January; Rory McIlroy, at the helm of the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open Hosted by the Rory Foundation in May; Paul Lawrie, driver of the second edition of the Saltire Energy Paul Lawrie Match Play in August; and Luke Donald, who will replace Ian Poulter as host of the British Masters in October.
“I am very pleased with the involvement of my Foundation in the Real Club Valderrama Open de España,” said Sergio. “This is a novel way of working together with the European Tour and I am very happy to be part of it.”
“I also feel very proud,” he adds, “that the tournament is being played at Valderrama, undoubtedly one of the best courses not only in Europe but in the world, with a long history in this sport and of which I have very good memories. I won the Andalucía Valderrama Masters there in 2011. I am sure that, once again, it will be a demanding test for the players who participate in April”.
For his part, Nuno Pereira Machado, president of Real Club Valderrama, emphasizes that “our club is part of the history of having hosted major tournaments, including the Ryder Cup. We have been working with the European Tour for some time with the aim of getting Valderrama back on the calendar, and we are pleased to host for the first time the Spanish professional tournament with the longest tradition. I am sure the players will appreciate all the improvements made to the course over the last four years.
“I thank Sergio Garcia for his involvement through his Foundation. Besides being one of the best players in the world, he is a good friend of our club. We will welcome all participants and look forward to a bright future together with the European Tour.”
Keith Pelley, CEO of the European Tour, says that “I am pleased to see that the Open de España, a prestigious European Tour tournament, will be played at Valderrama. In the many conversations I have had with players over the past six months, they have all expressed their desire to compete on the best courses, and Valderrama is among the best in the world”.
“On behalf of the European Tour, I thank Gonzaga Escauriaza and the Royal Spanish Golf Federation for joining us in this adventure. I also want to acknowledge the support of everyone at Valderrama, headed by its Manager, Javier Reviriego, and I also want to pay tribute to Sergio Garcia.
“Sergio is not only one of the best Spanish players in history, but also, on a personal note, he has been a great help to me in the first six months as CEO of the European Tour, appreciating his vision and commitment to the success of this tournament.”
Outstanding history
Real Club Valderrama shares its outstanding history with the European Tour having hosted the Ryder Cup in 1997, when continental Europe first hosted golf’s greatest team event.
The great Seve Ballesteros captained the European team in his country, defeating the American team by 14.5-13.5. On the last day, despite a comeback by Tom Kite’s team, in which Tiger Woods made his debut, Europe retained the trophy and Colin Montgomerie sealed the victory by tying his match against Scott Hoch.
Two years later, Tiger Woods won the inaugural edition of the WGC-American Express Championship, with Canadian Mike Weir prevailing in 2000. Similarly, several members of Seve Ballesteros’ winning team triumphed during different editions of the Volvo Masters -the European Tour’s Grand Final- held from 1988 to 1996 and from 2002 to 2008.
Sir Nick Faldo won the first edition of the Volvo Masters in 1988, followed by Montgomerie in 1993 and Bernhard Langer in 1994, before this illustrious duo shared the title when the tournament returned to Valderrama in 2002.
Ryder Cup Heroes
Other Ryder Cup heroes, winners of the Volvo Masters at Valderrama, were Ronan Rafferty (1989), Sandy Lyle (1992), Ian Poulter (2004), Paul McGinley (2005) and Justin Rose (2007), whose play-off victory over Simon Dyson and Søren Kjeldsen propelled him to number one in Europe.
Graeme McDowell in 2010 and the following year Sergio García won the Andalucía Valderrama Masters, a tournament valid for the Race to Dubai.
Not many people know that Valderrama hosted its first major international professional tournament in 1982, when the course was still called Las Aves (its current name dates from 1985 and was given to it by Jaime Ortiz-Patiño), and it was precisely a Spanish Open, in that case a women’s one, won by the American Rosie Jones. It was the first year as a professional of this Californian player (she was 22 at the time), one of the greats of world golf, who would later achieve another twenty-one victories, thirteen of them on the American Tour.
Valderrama also hosted, in 1992, a peculiar tournament, a Skins Game (a competition that awards cash prizes for the victory in each hole in succession and whose amount is accumulated) that brought together five of the best players of the moment: Fred Couples, then number one in the world, José María Olazábal, number three, Ian Woosnam, whom Couples succeeded a few months earlier at the top of the world ranking and was now fourth, Greg Norman, sixth (first the previous year), and Ian Baker-Finch, fifteenth in the world and who the following week would defend the British Open title. The White Shark won six consecutive holes and took 360,000 dollars of the 540,000 that the tournament distributed, a fortune at that time. And even more for such a short competition, a round of 18 holes, and with only five contenders.
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