• 21 Spaniards face the challenge of the Estrella Damm NA Andalucía Masters from September 3 to 6 at Real Club Valderrama (Sotogrande, San Roque)
It is not necessary to resort to many similes to define the quality, beauty and difficulty of Real Club Valderrama, but the one used by Pablo Larrazábal in the press conference prior to the start of the Estrella Damm NA Andalucía Masters could not be more explanatory: “ Valderrama is the European Augusta ”. Shortly before the competition begins in the only round of the European Tour to be played in Spain in the 2020 season, Larrazábal gave form with his statements to a common feeling among the 21 Spanish players: victories in Valderrama taste like glory.
“It happens to me with Valderrama what happens to Fred Couples or José María Olazábal with Augusta National. The field gives them something that makes them raise the level and play well. Valderrama gives me that, when you see this perfection of the field, the best greens on the European Circuit, it doesn’t matter how badly you are playing ”, summarized the Barcelona native. “This is a field in which I have done well in the past and I am really looking forward to it, I could retire after winning at Valderrama. Winning here with my people would be a dream. This is the Augusta National of Europe, who doesn’t want to win at Augusta? ”.
Although the beautiful postcards offered by the Real Club Valderrama lack the public’s auction, they will continue to pose a challenge to the players gathered in the Sanroqueño field. Pablo Larrazábal is motivated by the challenge.
“Everything changes when you play a field where you don’t have to hit very hard, but put it on the fairway. That’s where I feel comfortable, not when you have to hit 300 meters to the ball because I don’t hit them. I don’t feel comfortable when the fairways are 50 meters wide because you don’t focus on what you have to do, but on hitting him hard, and that’s not my game, ”explained the winner of this season’s Alfred Dunhill Championship. “In Valderrama you have to place the ball, you have to play very good medium and short irons. If you miss the blow you have to be imaginative to be able to keep it close, you have to fight all the blows and be focused from start to finish ”.
To questions from the press, Larrazábal also took the opportunity to remember the groups that he has paid tribute to for a few weeks with his outfit from the first day of each tournament.
“We are privileged, but in our country there are many people who have had a very bad time. Many people have lost loved ones to the pandemic and a few weeks ago I decided to wear black for the first rounds of the tournaments until the end of the year. And it is not just a pandemic, I have many black, Japanese, and Chinese friends, who with everything that has happened in the United States are having a very bad time. This is a small detail for them ”.
