European Tour: Getting Acquainted with Pablo Larrazabal

With the COVID-19 virus postponing all forms of professional golf for the foreseeable future, we are taking a look at some of this season’s stars of the European Tour. First up, Pablo Larrazabal.

Where better but to start with the season-opening event in South Africa, which took place in December. Spain’s Pablo Larrazabal took the victory, and we are focussing on the 37-year-old n this piece.

Factfile – Pablo Larrazabal

Date of Birth: May 15th,1983

Nationality: Spain

Turned Pro: 2004

Highest WR: 53rd (January 2014)

Best RTD: 17th (2011)

ET Wins: 5

(2008 Open de France, 2011 & 2015 BMW International Open, 2014 Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, 2019 Alfred Dunhill Championship)

Pablo Larrazabal was always destined to play golf, as both of his parents played the sport to a high standard. So did his brother, with Pablo caddying for older sibling Alejandro at the 2002 Amateur Championship, which he won, beating Welshman Martin Sell on the 36th hole of the final at Royal Porthcawl.

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Two years later, and having returned home from the United States, where he attended high school, the Spaniard eventually turned professional.

He played for a few years on the Challenge Tour, the understudy to the European Tour, with a best of 4th at the Postbank Challenge in 2007. He then graduated to the European Tour after finishing in a tie for 6th at the Q-School at the end of the season.

His first season on the Tour was one of his best, and it resulted in him taking home the Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year award at its conclusion, following three top-ten finishes. He also took his first victory on the Tour, winning the Open de France, where he led the field from wire-to-wire.

Larrazabal also finished inside the top three on home soil at the Madrid Masters, as he finished 18th on the Order of Merit.

For the next couple of seasons, he struggled with inconsistency, only managed 86th and 88th place in the new Race to Dubai in 2009 and 2010, respectively.

However, the Spaniard bounced back to record his second professional victory in 2011, as he won the BMW International Open, beating compatriot Sergio Garcia on the fifth extra hole. That year, Larrazabal also managed top-five finishes at the Avantha Masters, Open de Espana and Saab Wales Open on his way to a 17th place finish on the Race to Dubai.

He struggled again for form in 2012, with a couple of second-place finishes, at the Reale Seguros Open de Espana and the KLM Open, the only high points, but he bounced back once more to win in both 2014 and 2015.

Larrazabal took the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship title by a single shot in January 2014, beating out Rory McIlroy and Phil Mickelson. With the victory, the Spaniard moved up to 53rd in the Official World Golf Rankings, his highest ever position on the list.

He then won the BMW International Open title for a second time in 2015, coming four years after his first, but another long wait followed, including dropping out of the top 250 in the world rankings.

However, just three weeks after he did fall out of the top 250, Larrazabal returned to winning ways. He took home the Alfred Dunhill Championship title, his fifth on the European Tour, as he started the 2020 season in the perfect fashion.

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Larrazabal has then also continued that form into the new calendar year, with two other top 15 finishes, including a T7 result at the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters, his last appearance before the postponement of professional golf.

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