The entire Armada is already at the Real Club Valderrama a few hours before the start of the Open de España – Sergio García Foundation. Yesterday was the second day of training, a day of reunion between teammates in the only tournament of the European Tour that is being held this year in Spain. In the traditional family photo of Spanish players there was no lack of jokes and laughter. The good atmosphere reigns at the Real Club Valderrama in its historic date with the Open de España.
There will be 23 Spaniards playing in the tournament starting tomorrow. Sergio García and Rafael Cabrera-Bello, fresh from the Augusta Masters, along with Pablo Larrazábal, Alejandro Cañizares, Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño, Álvaro Quirós, Jorge Campillo, Nacho Elvira, Eduardo de la Riva, José Manuel Lara, Adrián Otaegui, Borja Virto, Carlos del Moral, Pedro Oriol, Xavier Guzmán, Carlos Pigem, Pablo Martín-Benavides, Borja Etchart, Pep Anglés, Scott Fernández, Jordi García Pinto and the amateurs Iván Cantero and Mario Galiano.
Today the Pro-Am will be played with a new format. Amateur players will have the opportunity to share a match with two professionals, one on the front nine and the other on the back nine. In addition, each match will have special spectators. The Sergio Garcia Foundation has invited a group of children from the children’s school of the La Cañada Golf Club, in Gudiaro, to accompany the teams to learn from the professionals first hand. There will be a total of 31 children from 8 to 14 years old, 16 in the morning and 15 in the afternoon.
Yesterday the presentation of the tournament took place, highlighting the importance of golf as a tourist attraction and its impact on the economy and employment in the area.
The president of Real Club Valderrama, Nuno Pereira Machado, highlighted the “honor” for the club to host this tournament and showed his interest in having big tournaments again in the future. “Spain is going to have a great tournament and I hope it will be at Valderrama. We are trying to continue the legacy of Jaime Ortiz-Patiño. He did a great job for golf in this area, in Spain and in Europe. Valderrama without great tournaments is not Valderrama”.
Gonzaga Escauriaza, president of the Royal Spanish Golf Federation, stressed that this edition of the Open de España has all the ingredients to be a success and highlighted the enormous expectation generated by the celebration of the tournament at R.C. Valderrama.
Juan Carlos Ruiz Boix, mayor of San Roque, expressed his satisfaction to welcome a show “that transcends the purely sporting by the economic impact it generates in San Roque and throughout the Campo de Gibraltar”. Ruix Boix wanted to wish luck to all participants, especially Alvaro Quiros and Mario Galiano, players of the quarry of La Cañada.
The general director of activities and promotion of sport of the Junta de Andalucía, ski champion Mª José Rienda, said that golf is the most competitive segment in Andalusia. “In 2014 we were visited by 458,000 golf tourists. We want to recover our commitment to major tournaments because that will allow us to show Andalusia to the whole world.”
The vice-president of the European Tour, Ángel Gallardo, explained that “if the Tour has financially supported the celebration of the Spanish Open this year, it has been in recognition of the great contribution made by Spanish players to European golf”.
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