Spaniard Pablo Martin is relishing some home comforts this week at the Open de Andalucia de Golf, the first event of the 2010 season on European soil.
The 23 year old lives a stone’s throw from the Parador de Malaga Golf and played there regularly when he was growing up, and he is excited to be returning to familiar territory in search of his second European Tour title of the season.
It has already been a turbulent campaign for Martin. He won the 2010 season-opening Alfred Dunhill Championship in South Africa and then finished tied sixth in the South African Open Championship the following week, but the elation was short-lived as the death of his father in January brought him crashing back down to earth.
“It’s been a difficult time off the course because my dad passed away at the beginning of the year so I took a few weeks off and tried to regroup,” said Martin, who made history in 2007 by becoming the first amateur to win a European Tour event, the Estoril Open de Portugal. “I’m getting there again. I’m just trying to enjoy every day.”
Martin admits it will be a relief to play a tournament so close to home, having only played in Africa and the Middle East so far this season. He does not think, however, that his knowledge of the Parador de Malaga course will be a significant advantage over the rest of the field.
“Hopefully I’ll have some family and friends there watching,” he said. “It will be fun. Staying at home for the week rather than in a hotel will be really nice. I’m looking forward to that, it’ll make a nice change.
“I know the course very well as I live very close and I played it a lot when I was younger. It’s a course where everything is in front of you. It’s very flat and if you play it a couple of times you get a very good grasp of it. So I don’t think it’s an advantage for me at all.”
Defending champion Søren Kjeldsen is in the field for the first tournament in Europe this season, with the Tour having already visited South Africa, the Middle East, India, the USA and north Africa. The Dane will be looking to retain the crown he won a year ago when he beat David Drysdale by three shots at Real Club de Golf de Sevilla.
The event is being co-promoted by Miguel Angel Jiménez’s management company, MMI. Jiménez, like Martin a Malaga native, has an excellent record on home soil with four of his 16 European Tour victories coming in Spain, and he has already won this year, at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic.
Few players are as familiar with the Parador de Malaga Golf as Jiménez, who won the 1999 Turespana Masters Open Andalucia, shooting a course record of 62, ten under par, in the third round on his way to victory. With the 6817 yard (6233 metres) layout now playing as a par 70 instead of 72, a new record will be established this week.
Paul McGinley will continue his recovery from knee surgery in Malaga, having come through the Trophée Hassan II in Morocco with no ill effects. Welshman Rhys Davies, who won the title at Morocco’s Royal Golf Dar Es Salam, is also in the field, as is Nick Dougherty, Darren Clarke, David Howell and the Spanish contingent of Alvaro Quiros, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castaño and Pablo Larrazabal.
