European Tour: Open de Andalucia

First topic message reminder :

The European Tour is resuming its activity on this side of the pond this week with the Open de Andalucia. Financially, something of a struggling event over the last few years as we've been hearing and allegedely still kept afloat by that very proud Andalucian, MA Jimenez. Beside all that, most of the attention this week and next will be focused on the few Europeans who could still earn their late Masters invitations via the top 50 OWGR by the end of next week. Apart from those regular ET members mentioned by kwini in his thread (Rock, Cabrerra-Bello, Matteo, Colsaerts), there are a few others who would still have at least theoretical chances to make it over the next two weeks: Coetzee, Luiten, Noren and Van Zyl, but from those Noren and Coetzee (and Colsaerts as well) have basically ruled themselves out by choosing not to play this week in Spain. Realistically speaking, from all those mentioned, only Rock has a decent chance to qualify, whereas Cabrerra-Bello and Matteo would need at least a win and another top finish to have a chance. For Luiten and Van Zyl only 2 wins will do the trick...

A few players leading at 2-under after the first few holes, including Marcus Fraser and Shane Lowry. Matteo with a good start a s well...

hend085 wrote:joost luiten looks pretty good but hes not in the same bracket as Oelson.
Luiten won on the challenge tour in 2007. so not quite the emerging rookie that the dane is!

Olesen is certainly up there as one of the ones to watch. That 07 stat is a bit deceptive for Luiten, he started '08 strong on the ET then got an injury in the spring that put him out for a good 18 months. He's only really had two full years on tour yet, and seems to be steadily improving.

Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone!

Hoping for some good vibes today for the Irish contingent out there... Damien McGrane put himself in a great position yesterday, but consistancy has been his main problem lately, so I'm hoping he will maintain that level of performance over the weekend.
Not quite a win in the end, but a laudable 3rd place finish nevertheless for the Corkman Niall Turner in Cambodia. And a very impetuous start today for Shane Lowry, not often you see two consecutive 2's on a scorecard!

And really hoping to see another Paddy's parade (as the one on Thursday) at Innisbrook later today...

wow-- 7 players on 9 under as we speak- 4 english and phillip price up there.

23 players within 2 shots of the lead!!

Really good to see such a tight leaderboard with plenty of english guys up there.

Trying to work out whose swing Larrazbals looks like, it has a real similar feel to it!

Mark Roe making the comment about MAJ's close friend whistling when he holed the eagle, that's his Son Mark! So you could say their close!

Surprised to hear Matteo only averages 272yards from the tee, just shows you being accurate with a good short game is just as important as bombing it!

Matteo definitely does not fit the profile of the other young hot-shot golfers.

Not a "Flat-Belly"
and does not it a long way.

I hope he finds a way his way to Augusta next month. I guess there is just not enough Italian CEO's in the ANGC membership like there are Japanese CEO's.

The thing that Matteo does best, apart from his golf, is smile. Seems to have a great attitude.
Nothing ridiculously low out there yet this morning, nice start from Lowry though; super_realist would have lots to say if Shane got on a roll, a bap, perhaps a buttie or two.

I'm gonna let you talk about Shane, as I'm tired of shouting for the Irish over the last couple of days only to end up dissapointed almost every time...
If there's anyone out there who's thriving during Paddy's Day week, it must be Rapha Jacquelin! Remember he won the Sicillian Open this time last year...

Great finish in Andalucia, it's anyone's race really...

(no names)

Thank you - Shane Lowry
Rocking and certainly Rolling.

Didn't see that coming from Le Citizen Quesne . . . . . Fantastique for him.

Superb finish for Quesne! Started to play golf at 17, that must be pretty rare these days... Matteo or De la Riva would need some magic to catch him now...

Not sure if Matteo knows this, but it's pretty important for him to finish at least tied 2nd with De la Riva to keep his chances alive for getting into the Masters with a win next week. A 3rd place here would make that almost impossible...

So-so finish from Eddie Molinari, but didn't realise he's carrying a wrist injury. According to the AP he's planning to play a full schedule thru September and then have corrective surgery to remove some cartilage.

Good luck, wrist and elbow injuries seem to take a long time to recover from for golfers.

Sorry to see the Iberdrola Open in Mallorca has been cancelled; Darren Clarke won't have the chance to "defend".

Nice story about Felipe Aguilar being named to the European Tour tournament players committee, the first non-European to be so honoured. Watched him play 18 holes once, very enjoyable to follow.

Have a feeling he'll have his loyalties tested if and when the relationship between the South American Tour and PGA Tour strengthens.

kwinigolfer wrote:Sorry to see the Iberdrola Open in Mallorca has been cancelled; Darren Clarke won't have the chance to "defend".

Lets face it, he has the same chance of defending whether or not the tournament goes ahead.

What happened to Darren after his Open victory anyway?

Did he decide to change his swing? Did he get new clubs?

Apparantly either seems to be the Irish way of handling a Major win...