2019 European Tour Tracker

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This week: Andalucía Masters

Who:

Claire Bodel, Senior Press & Communications Officer at the European Tour

What: European Tour Event: Andalucía Masters
Where: Valderrama Golf Course
Miles Travelled:

1,199 miles

Gear:

Alpha Convoy 320 Backpack, Layover Travel Bag, Terminal Travel Bag

My Role This Week:

I’m the Press Officer for the Andalucía Masters hosted by the Sergio Garcia Foundation. This week, I’m looking after local media requests, helping arrange interviews for our broadcast partners and producing reports from the tournament.

Short Description:

We find ourselves in a pretty scenic spot this week, with the media centre ideally positioned next to the tenth fairway, and with views up the range to the Real Club Valderrama clubhouse. The cork oak and ancient olive trees which are synonymous with this famous venue in the south of Spain are all around us – hopefully providing some welcome shade during the forecast heatwave.

Callaway Touring Professional and Spanish star Sergio Garcia arrives at Valderrama this week as the defending champion, three-time winner and tournament host, through the Sergio Garcia Foundation. The 2017 Masters Tournament champion often sites this as his favourite course and it’s not hard to see why. As well as his three victories in this event in 2011, 2017 and 2018, he was three times a runner up here at the Volvo Masters with three other top tens, finished third at the 2016 Open de España and fifth back in 2000 at the WGC-American Express Championship. This is also an important week for his Foundation, with a dinner and auction on Tuesday night raising 60,000 Euros alone.

Real Club Valderrama is one of the most recognisable courses in the world, and certainly one of the most scenic. The venue famously hosted the first Ryder Cup to be played in continental Europe in 1997, as the late, great Seve Ballesteros led Europe to victory. That event had a big impact on world number 11 and another home favourite, Jon Rahm, who told the media this week that it inspired his dad to take up the game. Fast forward ten years and Rahm was attending his first European Tour event at Valderrama, watching future Ryder Cup playing partner Justin Rose win and having his shirt signed by team mates to be Paul Casey and Henrik Stenson. Talk about inspiring the next generation!

This year the Estrella Damm N.A. Adalucia Masters is part of The Open Qualifying Series for the first time. That means the top three players not otherwise exempt within the top 10 will book their places at Portrush next month, which will no doubt add extra excitement to proceedings on Sunday. Before then, it has been pretty cool to see the Claret Jug proudly displayed next to the tournament trophy on the first tee.

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