EUROPEAN TOUR SPANISH OPEN:ALVARO QUIROS will this week try for something last achieved by Max Faulkner in 1953 – a successful defence of the Spanish Open title.
A winner in Seville last May, Europe’s biggest hitter lines up at El Prat, near Barcelona, against a field which includes Colin Montgomerie, Jose Maria Olazabal, Miguel Angel Jimenez, 18-year-old Matteo Manassero and also Scotland’s Elliot Saltman on his return from a three-month ban.
Quiros captured his fifth European Tour title in Dubai in February, but he rates his 27th-place finish at The Masters last month as a more valuable experience.
“I’m happy that I made the cut for the first time in three attempts and shot 65 the first day – 10 strokes better than my previous best score,” the 28-year-old said. “Now I know I can go low at Augusta and I believe the 65 and making the cut have been better for my game than my win in Dubai. My 65 was like Guadiaro (his local team) scoring against Barcelona in the first 15 minutes only to lose 6-1.”
Quiros was born in the year that Olazabal and Jimenez both made their first attempts to lift the Spanish Open – and neither has managed it yet. World number 23 Jimenez, now 47, is the top-ranked player in the event and is boosted by his second-place finish to Lee Westwood in Korea on Sunday.
“Miguel Angel is unbelievable – he doesn’t even realise how good he is,” stated Quiros.
Montgomerie and Olazabal, Ryder Cup captains past and present, are no longer in the game’s top 400, but Manassero stands 33rd and is back in action three weeks after pipping Rory McIlroy to the Malaysian Open.
That came two days before the Italian’s 18th birthday and was his second Tour victory. He became the circuit’s youngest-ever champion down the coast at Castellon last October. Saltman plays his first Tour event since the Joburg Open in January.
Three days after that he was suspended after an investigation into his ball-marking on the Challenge Tour in Russia last September.
The Irish challenge in Barcelona comes in the form of Peter Lawrie, Damien McGrane, Shane Lowry and Gareth Maybin.
The Lowdown
Course:Real Club de Golf El Prat, Terrassa, Barcelona
Prize money:€2m (€330,000 to winner
Length:7,298 yards
Par:72 Field: 156
Where to watch:Live on Sky Sports from 10.30am
Time difference:Barcelona is one hour ahead of Ireland
Course overview:Designed by Greg Norman and opened in 2004, countless bunkers are the course's main defence, while lots of run-off areas on the undulating greens demand accurate approach shots. It is a second-shot course, with tough targets to hit from generous fairways.
Weather forecast:A breezy Saturday is set to give way to a showery Sunday, so the best scoring is likely to come today and tomorrow.
