European Tour: Open de Andalucia

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...

Matteo hits the front after a 3rd birdie at the par 5 7th. Birdies there also by RRock and the Mechanic...

'Morning pd,
I see M-A J is down as the promoter as well as being a major benefactor - would be quite appropriate for him to win it!

Fine start from Matteo - what a shame young Italian golfers don't receive the same welcome from Augusta National accorded to young Japanese golfers . . . .

Prince,

Thanks for the putting this together as we always seem to miss having a European tour thread since mav stopped putting his up.



The talk this week is of players looking to get into the top 50, but if look at the period between the masters and US it looks a hopeless cause for any players based exclusively on the European tour. If we look at the table below it lists the events between the masters and US open, with the points they had in 2011. The points awarded could of course change depending on the fields but really it is a bleak run in general for the tour. The only rays of hope are in events where the big gun double dippers will be in town.

Event	2011 OWGR Points
malaysian open	42
china open	28
ballantines	42
open de espana	24
TBA	????
volvo match play	52
madeira open	18
BMW PGA	64
Wales open	30
Nordea masters	24

If someone like Rock missed out now he will have to fend off the likes of rory, lee, Donald, charl, oostie etc in the bigger events to have a chance. In the other events finishing outside the top 5 will hardly help in a quest to reach the top 50. Can people other than rory, and even in weaker fields, be expected to finish top 5 every week?

'morning kwini, would be nice to see Jimenez winning, of course, but I'm thinking he's been travelling quite a bit lately and may find it tough at his young age to keep it going for another week. But who knows what a good dose of Rioja can do for him...

Mac, that's a good point you're making, it's very tough indeed for ET players below a certain level to break through into the big boys' league. But looking at the half-full side of the glass for a moment, it has to be said that a couple of years ago that particular picture was even bleaker. For example, looking at the period that you mentioned between Masters and US Open, last year the ET events have been worth just under 75% of the OWGR value (to the winners) of the PGA Tour events over the same period. But in 2010, that ratio has been of just over 50%! So there has been a big improvement last year in that sense on the ET, and hopefully they can at least maintain this 75% ratio again this year... Also, if you look at the new top Korean guys like KtKim and Bae, they've been able to breakthrough well into the top 50 by maintaining a high level of consistency playing on tours which award much less points than the ET, so I guess the conclusion is that if you are very good and consistent at a high level, you should make it in the end... On the other hand, for 'new' guys on the PGA Tour, it is indeed an advantage to play week in week out in rich owgr events, but they also have to get through a 'thicker' layer of top players (including many of the ET top guys) in order to get to the rich owgr pickings at the top.

Another birdie for Matteo, leading at 5-under with Fraser and De la Riva...

Rory's tweet a few minutes ago...

Unbelievable experience at the White House last night!
Big thanks to @BarackObama for the invite!
We'll get that golf swing sorted soon!

Obama is a leftie.

McLaren wrote:Obama is a leftie.

Left wing, or left swing...? (or both?)

Prince

That was kinda meant to be the joke.

But yes, both.

Obama hardly left wing . . . . .

Lovely to see Matteo, leading the way, The Mechanic going through the gears, and Robert playing "Like a Rock".

Kwini

I though he was a communist?

kwinigolfer wrote:Obama hardly left wing . . . . .

What are you talking about kwini? Obama is a hard-left Marxist socialist! (That's what the guy on FOX news said anyway, and they wouldn't lie would they? They're owned by Rupert Murdoch after all)

Mac,
You've been listening to too many Republicans . . . .

The one thing I would say about most, not all obviously, of the European up-and-comers is that they don't have that many points to lose so a sustained run can elevate their ranking quite quickly. Unlike, say, Allenby, Els, Furyk, Harrington, Singh who will seem to be treading water unless they can turn top tens into top twos.


Snap! delToro . . . . !!

If fox are lying to me it actually makes me wonder if you can even trust the word of the bible!!!


Kwini

At 30 points or less for an event when you finsih 5th you are not going to win as many points as the average of the bloke in 50th of the OWGR's. On the PGA tour I imagine in most weeks a 5th would return a lot more than the average of the guy in 50th?

Mac,
I understand your point, though surely a 5th place in an owgr winning share of 30 pts would be about 7.2 pts? 50th currently 2.7.

But agreed 5th places won't do much more than keep up; Europeans certainly need a healthy smattering of top twos.

Still, only Quail Hollow, TPC and Memorial will yield bonanzas on the PGA Tour during the weeks you mention; and after Olympic Club the balance of power switches for four weeks.

Super finish from Matteo and a great 8-under par round, leading by 3 shots at the moment!
Great to see that he will front the Sicilian Open as well in two weeks time, could be a great 3-week spell for him even if he doesn't make it into the Masters in the end...

Kwini

You are of course correct, I looked at an old table and forgot there is a euro tour minimum. I think a few of those events are propped up by that (given that sometimes more than half the field are outside the top 200).

More like top 10 finishes needed rather than top 5.

Good stuff from matteo, although this time last year I would have predicted him fighting fot top 20 in the world not top 50.

I don't mean to keep plugging Golf World mag (it's not intentional / I have no vested interest), but John Huggan's latest column discusses the subject of tiering in the pro game. Having said that, what he says won't be anything particularly new to most of us who have been following the threads when they occasionally pop up on here - silly season events like Chevron / Nedbank are not right, entry requirements and points awarded in majors/WGCs are a barrier to entry for anyone outside the top tier etc.

Mannasero must be a bit annoyed - wasn't he in the top 30 for a while in-between last year's Masters and now (and marginally missed out on top 50 in frantic run up 12m ago)? Especially galling as he did well at Augusta as an amateur. I know his form dipped somewhat last year as well, but is this OWGR statistical point connected with him being a relatively new pro and his divisor increasing?

Also to do with a drastic decline in form whilst he was changing his swing in the quest for more distance.

Sky, there is an element of that as well with him, of course, but I'd say the main reason behind Matteo's cooling off and ranking slide must be, as kwini said as well, simply the fact that he/they decided last year to beef him up physically and make changes to his swing to gain langth... Not sure how good an idea it's been and where he is down that road at the moment...

Backed rock this week- good if not spectacular start!!

I hope/think Matteo will be back where he belongs soon, ie. top20-30. In fact his breakthrough came faster than McIlroys (and also Tiger's) as far as I remember.

PS. I also heard rumors that Obama is black....! Would you beleive it???

Not sure if he deserves it unless he gets there pedro

also not sure if he has 'broken through' yet

#1206, the left-hander from Canada, has had quite a nice Round 1 - he'll be rocketing up the rankings with three more like that!
And let's hope that happens.
Whatever happens this year he'll have two more fully exempt years on the PGA Tour, a couple of final chances to recapture past glories!

Great day indeed for Weir and it looks like it's been a great day for veterans (as well as teeagers like Matteo), with Padraig and Perry in Tampa and Weir and Fasth in Andalucia among the pace setters...

Rhys Davis has lost his way of late, everyone had such high hopes for him. Best putter on tour he was labelled at one point.

Willett and Woods as well. Too much bling too soon?
Regardless, none of them setting Europe on fire, let alone the World.

Apart from Rory, and possibly Tom Lewis - too early to judge - is there a top young British prospect under the age of Martin Laird's 29? Not sure that Horsey is the real thing, certainly not a Ryder Cup contender on recent form.

Fasth and Larrazabal closing the gap to Matteo to just one shot this morning, with Weir keeping in touch as well... Still expecting Matteo to continue playing well on this corse and to maintain the lead after today...

Still no-one has reached Matteo - Pavan playing nicely, and Eddie Molinari also - how he must rue three-putting from two feet yesterday . . . . .

Now it's time for Lorenzo Gagli to step up!

Superb putt at the 18th from Edoardo to finish with 4 birdies in the last 5 holes. Would love to see him come back to form this year. And Oliver Wilson going well, still in search for his first win if I'm not mistaken... But a great chance for Matteo to stretch that lead today with another good round...

mystiroakey wrote:

also not sure if he has 'broken through' yet

Two wins on the ET already does it for me. Rory was much longer (and older) before he got two wins.

kwini

"Apart from Rory, and possibly Tom Lewis - too early to judge - is there a top young British prospect under the age of Martin Laird's 29?"

What about

Tommy fleetwood
Chirs wood
danny willet

or any of the winning walker cup team

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Walker_Cup


But I think you maybe mean players a little more established than those mentioned?

In which case no and I agree with the sentiments of your question, there is a whole generation missing for some reason?

Where are the players aged about 22 - 30, that should have been in the cohorts of players behind rose, Donald, Casey etc

We have questioned the American players of this generation but they have

Fowler age 23
Kyle Stanley 24
Keegan 25
Webb simpson 26
Anthony Kim
Dustin Johnson 27
Spencer Levin 27
Kevin Na 28
Bill Haas 29
Mahan 29

And no doubt many I have forgotten about.

So they have all those playes and more in a generation where UK golf has a gap for top players. And no doubt they have more strength in under 25 range still to emerge.

kwinigolfer wrote:Apart from Rory, and possibly Tom Lewis - too early to judge - is there a top young British prospect under the age of Martin Laird's 29? Not sure that Horsey is the real thing, certainly not a Ryder Cup contender on recent form.

Lauren Taylor...

Unfortunately though, she'll never be a Ryder Cup contender either!

I think it would take a very brave man to predict that matteo will become a rory, even though he won 2 tournys before he did.

These days there are plenty of european stars, and i would suggest that it takes abit more than winning a couple of minor events to really break through.

Breaking through for me would mean qualifying for all the wgc's and majors for a consitant period of time. Not sure what happened to both molinaris but there have been out of sorts for a longish time(even though they are so young!!), we will see. I am sure matteo has what it takes, however he isnt going to become a rory by rorys age, i can safely say that, he hasnt got the ball striking or short game as of yet.

oliver fisher is a talent that may or may not make the grade.

i think tom lewis is the real deal- infact id back him to be a top 10 player .

richie ramsey is a nice golfer- i think potential better than laird.

oliver wilson although abit older than laird i feel has a good shot at breaking through(well at least like a robert rock anyway)

lowry the northern irish golfer- needs to loose a few stone mind!!

and off course as discussed the walker cup team.

the two that have turned pro (tom lewis and harris english- american) look like the real deal to me

Mac,
I would use Willett and Wood as two who seem to be in decline, both with poor years in 2011 when they might have been expected to kick on, Davies too obviously.

Good shout on Tommy Fleetwood but he's still getting his feet wet.

Agree that Lowry is probably the closest but his form is very fickle.

Hope we'll see one of the Walker Cuppers do the business other than those mentioned but I'm not sure anyone secured their card apart from Lewis.

Ramsay has certainly done nothing to suggest he's going to match Martin Laird's achievements, but I suppose he has time on his side.

Richie ramsey is only 6 months younger than laird.

yep i suppose winning twice on the uspga has cemented him as a good golfer.

The good think about the situ is that many of our brit players have 4-8 good years in them still, fingers crissed we will get aload more comeing through the ranks soon. i mean we will allways be dominant in europe- but its getting them winning in the US i suppose.

I think i counted about 12 plus brit golfers winning events last year!!

McLaren wrote:Richie ramsey is only 6 months younger than laird.

for some reason i thought he had won in the US!! not sure why.

i suppose he has a chance of getting better- 28 is still young for a golfer, but on second thoughts i can think of a few better hopefulls

kwinigolfer wrote:

Hope we'll see one of the Walker Cuppers do the business other than those mentioned but I'm not sure anyone secured their card apart from Lewis.

Andy Sullivan got his card at Q-school, not sure anyone else did, James Byrne (my pick for most promising on the team) came through Asian Tour Q-school but is struggling there so far. Not sure where the rest of them are playing.

Agree with the general sentiment of the young UK players struggling slightly last year, Willett, Wood, Davies had average seasons, Horsey a bit better. Maybin is another I tend to group with those, though he's a little older, and he struggled a bit too. Still plenty of time for all of them to come good though.

My suspicion is the best European prospect, as opposed to UK, in that age group is Joost Luiten.

Anyway, back to this week - what is it about the Spanish tournaments, and one of the local invites having a good week? De la Riva's turn again this time, it seems like him, Manuel Quiros, Garcia-Heredia and a couple of others take it turns to feature on the leaderboards of these events, but never do anything otherwise.

Not going well for Matteo today, sadly... good to see MAJ rising to the top though.

NedB-H wrote:My suspicion is the best European prospect, as opposed to UK, in that age group is Joost Luiten.

Interesting; I'd probably go for Oleson.

mystiroakey wrote:

McLaren wrote:Richie ramsey is only 6 months younger than laird.

for some reason i thought he had won in the US!! not sure why.

i suppose he has a chance of getting better- 28 is still young for a golfer, but on second thoughts i can think of a few better hopefulls

he won the US amateur. If he gets his putting sorted i think he can be a top top player.

and phat Shane Lowry is from Offaly..... certainly not Northern Ireland!

Does anyone know if mav turned pro? Before he left here he claimed he was going to. If he has, I back him as the most promising english golfer.

hend085 wrote:

mystiroakey wrote:

McLaren wrote:Richie ramsey is only 6 months younger than laird.

for some reason i thought he had won in the US!! not sure why.

i suppose he has a chance of getting better- 28 is still young for a golfer, but on second thoughts i can think of a few better hopefulls

he won the US amateur. If he gets his putting sorted i think he can be a top top player.

and phat Shane Lowry is from Offaly..... certainly not Northern Ireland!

thats what it was - cheers!!

apoligises to the irish lowry!

Poor follow up from Matteo today. I was saying yesterday that they can only get worse from there, but I wasn't expecting quite as bad as this... Hope Paddy won't follow in his footsteps later on. But good to see the Mechanic and RRock moving up today....

rock must have had a good last few holes- he was 3 under last time i looked- sweet!!

eduado showing his brotherly rivalry today! good round

first time i have seen the action live. them greens look abit long and ugly!!

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!

What about that up and down from Miguel!!!!