Golf:The European Tour finally returns to home soil after four weeks in South Africa, three in the Middle East, two WGC events in America and one each in India, Malaysia and Morocco. Tomorrow's Andalucian Open in Malaga is the first event in Europe this season where no less than nine Irishmen are in the field.
Paul McGinley, Shane Lowry, Darren Clarke, Peter Lawrie, Damien McGrane, Michael Hoey, Gareth Maybin, Gary Murphy and Simon Thornton will all tee it up at the Parador course where local favourite Miguel Angel Jimenez is promoting the event through his management company.
For Thornton it is a welcome return to action after a number of weeks on the sidelines as the Qualifying School graduate struggled to gain entry to a main tour event since his tied 17th finish at the Joburg Open back in January.
McGinley will continue his recovery from knee surgery in Malaga, having come through the Trophée Hassan II in Morocco with no ill effects.
Two players with extra incentive for winning this week are Sweden’s Alex Noren and South African Louis Oosthuizen as it could earn them a place at the Masters in two week’s time.
Noren won the opening tournament of the Ryder Cup qualifying race in Switzerland last September, but even though he has had three top six finishes since then he has dropped to 11th in the standings and 66th in the world.
The top 50 after this week's events around the world receive invitations to Augusta and there should be just enough points on offer for Noren to have a chance of making his debut.
Oosthuizen played there for the first time last year, but managed rounds of only 73 and 77 and missed the halfway cut by five.
He missed a golden opportunity to seal a return trip when he finished second to Welshman Rhys Davies at the Hassan Trophy in Rabat last Sunday after leading by three with 15 holes to play.
That was Oosthuizen's fourth runner-up finish on the European circuit, although he has won fives times as a professional in his home country.
Victory by either of them in Malaga would leave them waiting anxiously for scores from the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Florida to learn their fate. Graeme McDowell is the sole Irishman in the field in Florida while Pádraig Harrington and Rory McIlroy have a week off. Both will return at the Houston Open, a week before the Masters
Justin Rose, Stephen Ames and big-hitting Americans JB Holmes and Bubba Watson are in Florida battling to climb into the top 50 as well.
Spain’s Jimenez and Alvaro Quiros, defending champion Soren Kjeldsen plus Italian Francesco Molinari are the four players in this week’s Malaga field guaranteed their places at Augusta.
The new 6817 yard (6233 metres) layout is now playing as a par 70 instead of 72, so a new course record will be established this week.
Tee-times for the first round of the Andalucian Open, Parador de Malaga, Malaga, Spain
(Gbr & Irl unless stated, Irish in
bold all times Irish):
(x) denotes amateurs
Starting at hole 1
6.50am Sam Hutsby, Mark F Haastrup (Den), Emanuele Canonica (Ita)
7am Carlos Rodiles (Spa), Danny Willett, Marc Warren
7.10am Steven O'Hara, Andrew Tampion (Aus), George Coetzee (Rsa)
7.20am Robert Jan Derksen (Ned), Rafael Echenique (Arg), Christian Cevaer (Fra)
7.30am Gary Lockerbie, Peter Hedblom (Swe), Paul Waring
7.40am Julien Guerrier (Fra), Raul Quiros (Spa), James Kamte (Rsa)
7.50am David Dixon, Ariel Canete (Arg), Felipe Aguilar (Chi)
8am Steven Jeppesen (Swe), Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra), Miles Tunnicliff
8.10am Andrew Coltart, Eirik Tage Johansen (Nor), Borja Etchart (Spa)
8.20am Kenneth Ferrie, David Horsey, Stephen Dodd
8.30am Richard McEvoy, Peter Baker, Julien Quesne (Fra)
8.40am Robert Coles, Carlos Del Moral (Spa), Gabriel Canizares (Spa)
11.30am Tano Goya (Arg), Marcel Siem (Ger), Graeme Storm
11.40am Fabrizio Zanotti (Par),
Michael Hoey, Jose-Filipe Lima (Por)
11.50am Alvaro Velasco (Spa), Fredrik Ohlsson (Swe), Francisco Cea (Spa)
12pm Michael Jonzon (Swe), Oskar Henningsson (Swe), Daniel Vancsik (Arg)
12.10am
Shane Lowry, Ignacio Garrido (Spa), Thomas Aiken (Rsa)
12.20pm
Peter Lawrie, Thomas Bjorn (Den), Alexander Noren (Swe)
12.30pm Rhys Davies, Richie Ramsay, Thomas Levet (Fra)
12.40pm Soren Kjeldsen (Den), Pablo Martin (Spa), Alvaro Quiros (Spa)
12.50pm Richard Finch,
Paul McGinley, Anthony Wall
1pm Chris Gane, Simon Khan, Alejandro Canizares (Spa)
1.10pm Stephan Gross Jnr (Ger), Peter Whiteford, Jorge Campillo (Spa)
1.20pm Javier Colomo (Spa), Alfredo Garcia-Heredia (Spa), Jarmo Sandelin (Swe)
Starting at hole 10
6.50am Martin Erlandsson (Swe), Phillip Price, Sam Little
7am Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (Ind),
Damien McGrane, Gary Orr
7.10am10 Bradley Dredge, Richard Bland, David Lynn
7.20am David Howell, Joost Luiten (Ned), Barry Lane
7.30am Johan Edfors (Swe), Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa), Mikko Ilonen (Fin)
7.40am Francesco Molinari (Ita), Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (Spa), Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa)
7.50am Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa), Nick Dougherty,
Darren Clarke
8am Jose Manuel Lara (Spa), Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg), Pablo Larrazabal (Spa)
8.10am Raphael Jacquelin (Fra), Paul Lawrie, Robert Rock
8.20am Stephen Gallacher, Mark Brown (Nzl), Jamie Donaldson
8.30am Jamie Elson, Gary Boyd,
Gary Murphy
8.40am Lorenzo Gagli (Ita), Benjamin Hebert (Fra), Marco Ruiz (Par)
11.30am Gregory Havret (Fra), Paul Broadhurst, Christian Nilsson (Swe)
11.40am Clodomiro Carranza (Arg), Miguel Angel Martin (Spa), Manuel Quiros (Spa)
11.50am Andrew Butterfield, Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra), Carl Suneson (Spa)
12pm
Gareth Maybin, Mikael Lundberg (Swe), Francois Delamontagne (Fra)
12.10pm Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel), James Morrison, Jeppe Huldahl (Den)
12.20pm Shiv Kapur (Ind), Gregory Bourdy (Fra), Mark Foster
12.30pm Scott Drummond, Phillip Archer, Santiago Luna (Spa)
12.40pm Steve Webster, Alastair Forsyth, Markus Brier (Aut)
12.50pm John Parry, Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe), Andrew McArthur
1pm Niclas Fasth (Swe), Andrew Oldcorn, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra)
1.10pm Patrik Sjoland (Swe), James Ruth,
Simon Thornton
1.20pm David Drysdale, Anton Haig (Rsa), Dale Whitnell