Open de España: Reflections on Play at Valderrama

Andrew Johnston claimed his maiden European Tour win in a thrilling Open de España at Valderrama.

The Open de España has a rich history and the 2016 renewal certainly lived up to expectations as Andrew Johnston claimed his first European Tour victory. It’s been a tough old road for the 27-year-old from London as he’s battled on the satellite tours but after 63 attempts he can now call himself a European Tour winner.

Before a ball was hit in anger, the man known as ‘Beef’ was hardly well fancied to get the win. With major winners and other big name European Tour stars in the field, it needed a gritty, determined performance and that is exactly what Johnston delivered.

“I came off the course and I just started crying with the emotion of it. It’s just very surreal and I don’t think it will hit me for a few days.” – Andrew Johnston

The Englishman needed all of his short game magic around the greens to limit his mistakes while his ball striking was improved on the first three days . This was Johnston’s best performance as a professional and boy did it need to be.

Anybody who has ever played at Valderrama will tell you how difficult a test of golf it is but the weather conditions this week made it that much tougher to score well. The wind at times topped 30mph and the greens were hard enough for only the softest of approach shots to hold the putting surfaces.

That Johnston was able to hold it together throughout 72 of the most demanding holes of golf of his career is impressive, that he could do it whilst being relentlessly chased down borders on the unbelievable.

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On day four, Sergio Garcia made the most of the softer greens and calmer winds that greeted the players by shooting a Sunday best round of 67. That was enough to take the tournament host to third place on his own, just two shots away from a potential play-off.

One place in front of Garcia was Joost Luiten. The Dutchman was disappointed to miss out on a great opportunity to win but with five top 10 finishes in eight starts it is shaping up to be a cracking 2016 for the 30-year-old.

Honourable mentions must go to to the evergreen Soren Kjeldsen and defending champion James Morrison who finished in a tie for fourth. There were also major positives for Martin Kaymer who may just be coming out of an extended lull.

The Open de España proved to be a very welcome return for the European Tour after the recent short break. From a golfing point of view everybody was reminded just how much quality in depth there is in Europe while the Sergio Garcia Foundation was able to raise a significant amount of money for charity.

It was striking how many of this week’s competitors said how much they enjoyed the testing conditions at Valderrama. Time and time again, players who had gone round over par said they hoped for similarly tough days to come. Valderrama was never going to serve up a soft birdie-fest and it was great to see top quality players grinding so hard.

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Valderrama captured the imagination of so many who watched the Open de España but in the end the week belonged to Andrew Johnston. This was the first time for 20 years that a regular European Tour event was won with an over-par score and it bodes well for Johnston’s future in the game.