– This Thursday marks the start of a new edition of the KLM Open at the The International course, or as it has always been known, the Dutch Open. And no, “as it has always been known” is not just a saying, considering the first edition was held back in 1912. However, it has only been part of the DP World Tour calendar since 1972.
– Englishman George Pannell won the first edition in 1912, at the Haagsche course. He won by one stroke over his compatriot Charles Warren. It was played over two rounds.
– Many years, many editions, and numerous successes for Spanish golf have passed since then. It is one of the great strongholds of the Armada. Precisely, this year marks the sixtieth anniversary of the first Spanish victory in the Dutch Open. It occurred in 1965 and bore the hallmark of one of the greatest, Ángel Miguel. Not only did the eldest of the Miguel brothers win, but another Spaniard, Jaime Benito, finished in second place. Ángel defeated Jaime on the first playoff hole. It was held at the Toxandria course. It was the precursor to a very notable string of successes.
Menos mal que estamos a martes, pensaba Iván con el mini driver en la mano…
– In these 60 years, a total of eleven victories have been added for Spanish golf in the Dutch Open with eight different players:
– Seve Ballesteros (3) (1976, 1980, and 1986)
– Ramón Sota (2) (1966 and 1971)
– Ángel Miguel (1965)
– José María Olazábal (1989)
– Miguel Ángel Jiménez (1994)
– Gonzalo Fernández Castaño (2005)
– Sergio García (2019)
– Pablo Larrazábal (2023)
– In the DP World Tour era, since 1972, there have been six different winners and eight total triumphs. We are close to catching up with England as the country with the most wins in the Netherlands on the European Tour. The English have nine victories from seven different players. This week we could tie in victories and number of winners, provided, of course, that the win doesn’t come from Larrazábal or Gonzalo, past winners of the tournament.
– There is a very revealing nuance in this statistic. It is true that England leads us by one in victories and number of winners, but it should be noted that they have achieved this with 382 different players, while only 89 Spaniards have ever played the Dutch Open under the DP World Tour umbrella. By density, Spain wins by a landslide.
– This year, by the way, sees two Spanish debuts in the KLM Open: Joel Moscatel and Albert Boneta. If either of them wins on Sunday, they would join Seve Ballesteros and Gonzalo Fernández Castaño, whose first professional victory on the European Tour was in this tournament.
– In addition to those victories, there are a good number of runner-up finishes: Eduardo de la Riva, José María Cañizares, Ángel Gallardo, Jaime Benito himself, Pepín Rivero, Adrián Otaegui, Antonio Garrido, as well as Larrazábal and Jiménez.
– Of the 14 Spaniards playing in the KLM Open this week, Pablo Larrazábal has by far the best record in the Netherlands. He has played the tournament ten times, won once, and has four top 10 finishes. Additionally, he has only missed the cut twice, despite playing on several different courses.
– Interestingly, Gonzalo, the other winner from the Armada in the Netherlands present this week, has very paradoxical numbers. He has played the tournament 13 times, won once, achieved three top 10 finishes, but missed the cut on seven occasions. We could almost say that he is either in contention to win or misses the cut.
– Jorge Campillo and Nacho Elvira, so far, have not fared very well in this event. Campillo has played it 12 times and, while not a disaster by any means, has no top 10 finishes, whereas Nacho has played it seven times and only made the cut twice.
– The KLM Open has been held on nine different courses throughout its history in the DP World Tour. Well, the Spaniards have won on five different ones. That’s quite something. They have also won at The International this week. Specifically, Sergio García did so in 2019.
