EUROPEAN TOUR:JOSE MARIA Olazabal was given a late invitation into today's €1 million Austrian Open at Fontana Golf Club in Vienna where he will be joined by three Irishmen in Gary Murphy, Damien McGrane and Michael Hoey, who has fond memories of the layout as he won his first professional event there.
The event was originally due to be played in June immediately before the US Open at Bethpage, but after the cancellation of the British Masters it was moved to a later date on the schedule.
With a €1 million prize purse and €166,660 to the winner, it remains one of the smaller stops on the European Tour and offers only a one-year exemption for the winner, so the addition of Olazabal to the line-up is a welcome boost.
The two-time Masters champion’s decision to play came too late for him to enter under his normal category, but not all the sponsors’ invitation spots had been taken and so he could be fitted in.
The Spaniard has been battling with rheumatic pains again this season and has played only three events in the last two months.
None of them has produced a top 30 finish and he is down in 168th place on the money list.
Hoey returns to Fontana where he won the Challenge Tour’s BA-CA Open in 2005 by finishing birdie, birdie in the final round to land his first professional title. That maiden win earned the 30-year-old his full playing rights on the main tour for the first time.
Earlier this year the former British Amateur champion landed his maiden European Tour title by securing the Estoril Open in Portugal. Hoey is currently 93rd in the Race to Dubai with earnings of €302,051 from 21 events.
Murphy is a lowly 153rd with €139,579 from 27 events, while McGrane is 53rd with €472,758 from 26 events. Hoey and McGrane are paired together alongside South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen.
Favourite for the title on Sunday is Soren Hansen, the Ryder Cup Dane who was joint third in the Mercedes-Benz Championship in Cologne last weekend.
“I played solid and did everything right except holing a few putts,” said Hansen. “To come up one short is not the end of the world. I played well.” Hansen finished ninth on the points table for last year’s Ryder Cup team and is back in the same position now.
The difference now, though, is that only nine rather than 10 qualify for Colin Montgomerie’s side. Europe’s captain asked for and was granted three wild cards, one more than predecessor Nick Faldo.
Bradley Dredge, runner-up in the European Masters two weeks ago and fourth in the Cup standings, did not qualify for last week’s tournament, but is in Vienna for an event won last year by India’s Jeev Milkha Singh.
Austrian Open
Venue: Fontana Golf Club, Vienna. Opened in 1997.
Defending Champion: Jeev Mikha Singh.
Prize money: €1 million, with €166,660 going to the winner.
Irish Players: Michael Hoey, Damien McGrane, Gary Murphy.
The course: Recent wet weather has made it soft. The fairways and greens are undulating. Water hazards are in play on holes 2, 3, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 16, 17 and 18.
