Open de España Weekend Preview – Can Anyone Tame Valderrama?

Valderrama is making a welcome, if brutal, return to the European Tour at the Open de España

Open de España is promising a fine weekend of play for European Tour golf fans. The field is strong and the venue is spectacular.

It takes a very special golf course to capture the imagination the week after the Masters at Augusta National but Valderrama certainly fits that bill. Set in Sotogrande, in southern Spain, the par-71 layout is one of the most highly regarded courses in all of Europe; and it is stealing the show at this week’s Open de España.

Hosted by the Sergio Garcia Foundation, the Open de España has attracted an impressive field. But even players of the calibre of Martin Kaymer, Thomas Bjorn and Soren Kjeldsen have struggled to tame the tight, tree-lined course in incredibly difficult conditions.

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A combination of the firm greens, juicy rough, and gusting winds means we are going into the weekend with a leading score of just -3 set by local favourite, Pablo Larrazábal.

At the other end of the leaderboard, two players – Richard McEvoy and Ryan Fox – took 86 shots for their second Open de España round while the cut fell at +9. That big number gives you an indication of just how tough the going was.

The weather forecast for the two days still to come suggests that the wind will continue to blow but it should be a little easier to put a score together on Sunday. That gives us the potential for a late charge through the field, perhaps from the tournament host himself.

"“When you come back to somewhere where you have done well, and feel comfortable and you know what you are doing, it always helps.” – Sergio Garcia"

Sergio Garcia absolutely loves Valderrama and when the chance came up for him to host his national open he jumped at the chance to bring it to the course where he won the Andalusia Valderrama Masters in 2011.

Normally +3 would be too far back but Garcia is well in contention at the Open de España. There were enough positives in his second round of 71 to believe that he still has a chance of a hugely popular win.

If Garcia is to bag another win here he will have to overcome fellow countryman Pablo Larrazábal. When the 32-year-old began his second round it looked as though he was playing a different course than the competition, making three birdies in his opening nine. However, a couple of mistakes coming home dragged him closer to the chasing pack.

The only other man under par for the tournament is Englishman, Andrew Johnston. In only his second full season on the European Tour the man they call “Beef” would dearly love to start recording top 10 finishes rather than just doing the minimum to keep his card.

Johnston took 74 in his second round but his 67 on Thursday shows that he understands the challenge posed by Valderrama and he’s clearly relishing the opportunity.

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Defending champion, James Morrison is just a shot back of Johnston alongside Alejandro Cañizares and Alexander Levy at even par. Any of those three have the quality to go on and win come Sunday and the winning score is unlikely to be too far away from where they are sitting currently.

With any number of players in with a chance of grabbing the win, what is it going to take to get the job done?

The most important statistic to take into account is greens in regulation. It is no coincidence that Alexander Levy held the day one lead after topping the GIR stats but as Ross Fisher showed, there is little point hitting the greens if you don’t hole your putts.

Those who can best get to grips with the claggy rough around the greens to get up-and-down for par will also be at a significant advantage.

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Whoever wins the 2016 Open de España, we are guaranteed an exciting finish to the tournament at this wonderful golf course. North American fans can watch the Open de España 3rd round beginning at 8am ET on Golf Channel Saturday morning, April 16.